Was it Worth it?
by Solarsearcher
Summary: Lee had a son named Tyler before the outbreak. With the apocalypse in full effect and Clementine needing constant care, Lee is unable to search for his missing son. Follow Lee Everett's life after the dead have risen as he struggles for survival.
1. A New Day

**The following chapter selectively observes the viewpoints of the following characters: Lee.**

**Please note where the perspective shifts from one character to another, as the perspective changes will not be specifically listed.**

* * *

><p>Lee Everett sat in the back seat of a police squadron car, handcuffed and depressed. He was still reeling from his conviction and sentencing to life in prison without possibility of early release due to parole. He had been deemed a murderer by a federal judge of Georgia state.<p>

Yet he was okay with that.

So now he was being taken to his new home by a nameless police officer that seemed itchy to get this car ride over. An aging man with a receding hairline steered the wheel and pressed down on the gas pedal. Lee didn't even feel the urge to make small talk.

"Well, I reckon you didn't do it then," the cop said. Apparently, the nameless cop did.

"Why do you say that?" Lee kindly responded in spite of the extreme irritation he felt within.

"Y'know, I've driven a buncha' fellas down to this prison. Lord knows how many. Usually is 'bout now I get the 'I didn't do it,'" the cop said.

"And what do you say?" Lee asked.

"I say, 'Yep, I know ya didn't.'" The officer paused. "I followed your case a little bit, you being a Macon boy and all."

"You're from Macon, then?" Lee noticed, trying to change the subject from his future.

"Yep. Came up to Atlanta to be a city cop in the seventies. Always wanted to work a murder case, like that senatorial mess you got yourself mixed up in, with all due respect. A real shame that is.

"Hell, the whole family used to be regulars at your folks' drugstore right in downtown," the cop continued. "Still there?"

"Sure is," Lee said.

"Good." The cop seemed satisfied to be doing something other than driving. "I got a nephew up in UGA, you teach there long?" the cop asked.

"Going on my sixth year," Lee responded, finally happy to be talking about something else.

"You meet your wife in Athens?" Lee looked down. It seemed as if this cop was intentionally bringing up painful subjects to hurt him. "You wanna know how I see it?"

A convoy of emergency service vehicles passed by on the other side of the road. "Sure."

The officer hesitated, concerned about how Lee would respond. Lee narrowed his eyes. "Regardless, could be you just married the wrong woman."

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have my son," Lee said.

"Right, your boy, Tyler. Word is that he had evidence that would have acquitted you."

Lee looked down. "He did."

Surprisingly, the officer let the subject drop. "I'm driving his man once, h-he was the worst one. He wouldn't stop going on about how he didn't do it. He was an older fella. Big, soft eyes behind a pair of smart, folk glasses, and he's just wailing back there, says it wasn't him. Crying and snotting all over, right where you're sitting.

"Then before long he starts kicking the back of the seat, li-like a fussy baby on an airplane. And I tell him he's gotta stop, that that's government property and I'll to zap him otherwise. So he stops, and having exhausted all other options, he starts crying out for his momma. 'Momma, it's all a big mistake. It wasn't me.'

"They caught the fucker red handed. Stabbin' his wife, cutting her up as the boys came through the door. He sits in my car yelling, screaming 'Bloody murder, it wasn't him!' I think he actually believed it himself. It goes to show, people will up and go mad when they believe their life is finally over."

He turned to Lee, taking his eyes off of the road. "Now, I got another good one for ya. This one's a little bit less depressing and a bit more hilarious if I do say so myself-"

Lee screamed,"OH SHIT!" as the car crashed into another man's body. The cop looked back at the road and swerved to the right, as if doing so would undo the damage he had just done. He crashed through the safety rail and into the woods, flipping the car over and over until it finally came to a stop when a tree blocked its path.

* * *

><p>Lee awoke with immense pain and thirst: both caused by the accident. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness for how long he had no idea, but he did recall seeing nighttime skies at one point, and it seemed like it was afternoon now. That would have been scary enough, but he realized he had handcuffs on his wrists.<p>

Lee looked around the wreck, spotting the officer lying in a pool of blood a short distance away. His shotgun was discarded. Lee yelled out to him. "Hey, hey officer! Are you alright? I'm still cuffed back here!" He didn't even move. Lee kicked out the window on the opposite side of the car from him, then dragged himself out of it and crashed to the rocks.

Lee stood up straight, hurting his leg in the process. He leaned against the car, using the rim for support as he walked around the hood. At the end of the hood, he let go, and walked on his own to the dead cop.

Lee looked down upon the dead man from above. A set of keys were visible from the back of his belt, so Lee grabbed them and used them to try to get his cuffs off. He placed the key into the pulley, but dropped the key in front of the officer's face. He hesitantly grabbed them, since he couldn't be completely sure that the officer was dead, and if he woke up, he would probably force Lee to wear them on the march to prison.

Lee put the key back into the pulley of the hand cuff on his right wrist. It unsnapped, and the cuff came undone. Lee moved on to the second link, and unhooked that too.

The officer made a groaning noise and twitched. "Officer?" Lee asked. The officer sprung at Lee, knocking him down. "Ah, ah. Holy shit!" Lee crawled backwards as it crawled forward. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Lee came to a stop as he hit the car.

Lee looked to his left and right for a weapon. The shotgun was to his left. He hastily grabbed it and fired it at the pursuing cop. The response was a click. There was a shell on his right, hopefully with a bullet in the casing.

Lee grabbed it and tried to put it into the shotgun. The cop snarled at him. Lee dropped the casing while trying to put it into the magazine. He picked it up again, this time successfully loading the clip. "Don't make me do this!" Lee shouted.

The cop didn't stop.

Lee pulled the trigger.

The cop's head disappeared.

It stopped moving.

Lee looked down at his shotgun and threw it away in horror. The gun made a clicking sound as it hit the grass. He took another look at the cop. "Are you dead?... HEY! ARE YOU DEAD!?"

Lee looked up and noticed a figure upon the hill before him. "HELP! Go get someone!" Lee yelled out to the silhouette. There's- There's been a shooting!"

Lee heard more snarling, on his left. He looked to the side. A man with no skin on his head walked out of the darkness.

Lee stood up by pushing against his knee. He limped up the hill, stumbling along the way. He passed by a thick tree with another person sitting against it, reaching its hands for Lee. He spotted several other snarling people without skin chasing him while running. He found a wooden fence at the top of the hill. Seeking safety, he climbed over it.

Lee landed backwards, and crawled that way until he reached the deck of some house. Gunshots sounded off in the distance as the zombies were banging on the gates. They stopped banging after they sounded, perhaps leaving to go find the source of the noise.

Lee stood up by pushing off of his knee again. He walked to the center of the yard he had jumped into. "Hello? Anybody?" Lee called out to no response.

Lee walked up the stairs of the deck, going over to the sliding glass door into the house. "Hello? Anyone home? I need a little help.

No answer.

"Hello? There's something going on." Lee said to himself. "Look, I'm coming in. Don't shoot, ok?" Lee entered the house, and immediately noticed the messiness, as if looters had sacked this place. "Hello? I'm not an intruder, or one of THEM." Lee took a second deliberation of the kitchen and living room. "Ugh, these people might need more help than I do," he observed.

Lee inspected the part of the room closest to the back door, which had a wooden table with plastic fruits. He turned around and noticed a red blinking light on another table adjoining the wall. A beeping noise persisted from that direction.

Lee dragged his leg over to the answering machine and pressed the play button. "Three new messages," a robotic voice announced. "Message one, left at; five-forty-three, P.M."

The robotic voice switched to a suburban house wife's voice. "Hey Sandra, it's Diana. We're still in Savannah. Uh, Ed had a little incident with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break."

"Message two," the robotic voice returned. "Left at eleven-nine-teem pm."

"Oh my god, finally. I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and they aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Murietta. I have to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that that you're safe."

"Message three. Left at six-fifty-one am."

"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's 9-1-1. We love you, we love you, we love y-." Lee picked up what must have been a family photo near the telephone. It consisted of an overweight father, a slim mother, and a short young girl.

"Daddy?!" a feminine voice said from the kitchen.

"Huh?" Lee responded. No reply came, so he put down the family photo to find the girl who had spoken.

Lee limped into the kitchen to find the source of the voice. On his way in, he noticed three things: the cabinets and cupboards were all a mess, a table and garbage pale were overturned in the corner near the broken refrigerator, and blood on the walls and floor can be slippery when wet.

The third observation he found out the hard way as he slipped on a patch of blood between rooms. He narrowly missed the counter top as he fell to his right. Lee hit his head on the tiled floor, putting him eye level with hand prints of blood leading further into the kitchen, then abruptly stopping at the garbage pale.

He found his feet by pushing himself off of his wounded leg. He scoured what remained of the kitchen, and on the way found a half-empty paper cup of water that he greedily drank. He went over to the fridge an found a note on it. 'Marsh House contact: 617-889-0110,' it read.

He then opened a drawer to his left, which contained a walkie-talkie within. He pulled out the walkie-talkie, and pushed the button.

"Hello?!" Lee asked. He let go of the button.

"You need to be quiet," a response came.

Lee limped over to the answering machine. He pressed the button again. "I'm not a monster," Lee clarified.

"Good."

"What's your name?" Lee asked.

"I'm Clementine. This is my house."

"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lee. How old are you?" Lee asked.

"Eight," Clementine answered.

Lee considered that. "And you're alone?" He let go of the button.

"Yes. I don't know where anyone is. How old are you?" Clementine replied.

"I'm uh... thirty-seven," Lee answered back. "Where are your parents?"

"They're in Savannah, I think. Where all the boats are."

"Are you safe?" Lee inquired.

"I'm okay. I'm hiding in my treehouse." Lee looked out the window over the sink. "Can you see me?" Clementine asked. "I can see you."

Lee waved at her. She ducked back into the treehouse as if afraid. Lee turned, hearing a noise.

An undead woman was lunging for him.

Lee grunted and dropped the radio to the floor. He placed his hands against the woman as she tried to pull him closer. His hands found the left wrist and her right shoulder. Lee pushed her back so her head fell against the counter. Lee ran in the opposite direction, slipping on the pool of blood from before. This time his head hit the counter.

His vision swam as the moaning grew louder. His vision cleared as soon as the undead girl was upon him. He used his good leg to push it away. He stood up the same way as before and ran again towards the back door. The zombie-like thing extended its hand and tripped Lee. He fell flat on his face, then quickly turned over to see the undead girl trying to mount him.

As it climbed on top of him, he punched it away. He turned his head and crawled back. He noticed a little girl approaching with a cap on her head and wearing a skirt over her body. She carried a hammer by its head and opened the door.

The zombie, not finished yet, dragged Lee closer to it by pulling his foot. It succeeded in actually mounting him this time, and it was dangerously close to biting him, if that was what it was trying to do. Its face nearing his, he used all of his strength to toss it back. It crawled after Lee again. He turned and accepted the hammer from Clementine. It was past his legs and was held there where Lee blocked its shoulders with his knees. Lee hit its head with the hammer's blunt end. It fell to the side.

Lee promptly stood up and placed one foot upon what he assumed to be the babysitter's chest. He swung down with the hammer into the head of the zombie and pulled back. With a shout, he did it again, creating a sizable hole in its head. He hit the zombie's head again, plunging the hammer's head into the hole created before. With one last shout, he used the claw of the hammer to dig into the brain, and the zombie stopped struggling. The claw wedged itself in the brain. Lee ripped the hammer out of the zombie's head with pieces of its brain still on it.

Lee let go of the hammer. He stood up slowly, exhausted after his close call. "Hi there," Lee said to the girl, speaking to her for the first time without a radio.

She was backing away from the corpse, or more specifically, an extending pool of blood from the corpse. "Did you kill it?" Clementine asked.

"I don't know. I think so," Lee answered.

"Sometimes they come back," Clementine frightfully stated.

"Have you killed one?"

"No," Clementine said,"but they get shot a lot."

"You've been all by yourself through this?" Lee knelt as he spoke.

"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now."

"I think... that might be a little while, you know," Lee said. Clementine looked down as Lee moved closer. "Look, I don't know what happened, but I'll look after you until then. We'll leave in a few hours, okay?" Lee asked.

"My parents might come home."

"We won't go far. We'll try to find a shelter and come back here with others."

* * *

><p>About an hour after the sun went down, Lee and Clementine left the house together. Clementine carried both of the walkie-talkies in her hands. She ran ahead to the gate. Lee staggered after her and opened the gate.<p>

"It'll be ok," Lee assured. "Stay near me and we'll move as fast as we can."

Lee and the little girl walked out onto the sidewalk, noticing several car wrecks in the streets. None of the cars had drivers inside, and none of the cars were on. _Damn_, Lee thought. They could have used-

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out into the night. "I found the bastard," someone nearby declared. The two of them cowered behind a car.

"Are we going to die?" Clementine asked Lee.

"They're after me, not you," Lee answered.

"Why?" Clementine asked.

"Stay down! Georgia State Patrol!" the stranger said.

Lee stood with his hands raised. "Okay," he yelled. "I'll come quietly. There's a little girl here."

Two people came from out of the shadows; one raising a gun and wearing a police uniform, the other a farm boy with short, black hair. The cop had his finger on the trigger.

"Oh wait! You're not one of those things!" he yelled. His finger lingered on the trigger, even though he lowered his weapon.

"Wait, why'd you say you'd come quietly?" the other newcomer asked.

"Oh, geez," Lee said. "I thought I was being arrested."

"Hi," the other newcomer said. "I'm Shawn Greene. This is Officer Andre Mitchell. Did you see those monsters? One of them got our friend, Chet."

"I saw a ton of them in the forest back there, but that was a while ago," Lee said.

"Look," Shawn said, "help us find the thing that got our buddy and we'll take you and your daughter back to my dad's farm for safety. He should be able to fix your leg up, too."

"I'm not her dad," Lee began hesitantly. "I'm... just some guy."

"Some guy?" Shawn verified.

Lee nodded. "Yeah."

"She's alone?" Clementine nodded at Shawn's question.

"Whoever you are, let's get a move on," Officer Mitchell dictated.

Lee was about to reply, but moaning sounded from behind him. Lee turned to see an overweight zombie approaching them. "Oh shit," Shawn declared. "It's Chet!"

The officer raised his gun at the zombie, finger never having left the trigger. "Let's go! Get to my car!" Everyone ran for the squad car a few feet away. When Lee made sure Clementine was inside, he spared a glance for the cop, whose gun was wavering. Officer Mitchell lowered his gun, still not removing his finger from the trigger, and ran back towards the car. Lee hopped into the back with the little girl, Shawn hopped into the passenger's seat, and Andre took the wheel. He started the engine, and swerved to miss the approaching zombie. As a result, he hit a nearby abandoned car. At the next intersection, the car turned right.

Shawn stayed silent throughout the driving out of the suburban area, probably in shock after seeing his friend as a zombie. Who wouldn't react like Shawn in this situation? Seeing someone close trying to come over to you and eat your guts? It was depressing.

Officer Mitchell knew where he was going apparently, as Shawn gave him no directions. He turned onto a freeway, and drove on until he found a wreck of cars and trucks blocking his path. Shockingly, they encountered no further zombies at this crash course. The car turned around and drove away.

Upon reaching the Greene family farm, Shawn, Clementine and Lee exited the vehicle. Shawn looked back in through open window to say goodbye to the officer. "Say 'hi' to your dad for me," the officer said. I'm sorry, Shawn. Chet was a good dude."

Shawn paused. "One of the best," he remarked. Shawn turned and walked away.

"Take care, you two." With that, Officer Andre Mitchell left the farm.

Lee turned to see the house door opening. And old man, probably in his late fifties, walked out. "Thank God, you're okay," the oldest man of them all stated.

Shawn walked over to him. "I was worried it'd be bad here, too," Shawn confessed.

"Been quite as usual the past couple days." Shawn hugged his talking father. "Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame, but that ain't nothing new."

Shawn pulled back and nodded. "I ran into Andre outside of Atlanta. And uh... Chet... he got killed."

The old man looked taken aback. "No. You're kidding."

"Those things got him," Shawn confirmed. "Dad, I don't know what's going on." Shawn looked down.

"I'm sorry, Shawn," his father consoled. He put a reassuring hand on Shawn's shoulder, gave a squeeze, then let go. They then both turned to the outsiders. "You've brought a couple guests."

"Your boy's a lifesaver," Lee remarked.

"Glad he could be of help to somebody. So it's just you and your daughter then."

Shawn spoke before Lee could. "Oh, not his daughter, he's... well... just some guy who found her."

The old man crouched down to look at Clementine. "Honey, do you know this man?"

Clementine blinked. "Yes," she said hesitantly.

He nodded, perhaps knowingly. "Ok, then. Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

Lee sighed. "Yeah, it's not doing so good."

"I can help you out," the old farmer said. "Shawn, run on in and check on your sister. You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

They all walked up the stairs to the house. Lee sat down on a bench near the door. The old man went inside then returned to the porch with a bottle of pills. "Let's have a look." He raised Lee's pant patch to see the wound. "Yeah, this is swollen to hell."

"Could be worse," Lee noticed.

"That's what it sounds like," the farmer said. "Seems like things got awful bad in the cities. What'd you say your name was?"

"It's Lee."

"Nice to meet you, Lee. I'm Hershel Greene," the farmer introduced. He wrapped a bandage around Lee's cut. Lee grunted. "How'd this happen?"

"Car accident," Lee answered truthfully.

"That so. Where were you headed? Before the car accident?"

"I was getting out of Atlanta," the younger man responded.

"The news says stay," Hershel commented.

"Yeah, well that's a mistake. We hit a guy, one of those things you been hearing about, on the road."

"Who were you with?" Hershel inquired. "The girl?"

"I was with a police officer. He was giving me a ride."

"Awful nice of him," Hershel said.

"I'm an awful nice guy," Lee suggested. Hershel finished attaching the bandage to his wound. At the moment, he was inspecting his handiwork.

"House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three sleeping in the barn. You and your daughter are welcome to rest there, when we're done here." Hershel turned to the little girl behind him. "I didn't catch your name, darlin'."

Clementine looked away. "Clem-Clementine." She seemed anxious.

"Can't imagine what you've been through, Clementine," he said.

Lee spoke nervously. "I'm looking after her until we find her parents."

Shawn returned to the porch. "Hey Dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we got to reinforce the fence around the farm."

"With what happened to your friend, maybe that's not a bad idea," Hershel allowed. Hershel finished with his inspection and looked at Lee. "Alright, you're good to go. If the swelling doesn't go down, then you're dealing with an infection. In that case I'll clean the wound and redress it tomorrow."

Lee thanked the farmer. "Come on, Clem. Let's go." He stood up, not as much pain as before in his leg, and took Clementine to the barn.

"Lee?" Clementine asked. "Did you shoot the police officer?"

Lee looked down at her, continuing to walk. "Yes." He grabbed the barn door's handle and pried it open. "But only because he was one of those things, like your babysitter."

Clem seemed okay with that answer and went inside the hay-filled barn. Lee walked in after her and closed the door. Up to his right, he noticed were a few visible feet sticking up, probably belonging to the displaced family of three and not human legs cut off from alive bodies.

They both found mattresses and set themselves on them. Clem lay down on hers first. Lee sat and gently settled back down. Clementine sniffled. "It smells like..."

"Manure," Lee finished for her.

"Manure? Like when a horse... plops?"

"Just like that," Lee said, smiling.

They laid in comfortable silence, until Clementine broke it. "I miss my mom and dad."

"I bet Clem."

"How far is Savannah?" she asked.

Lee looked away. "Pretty far."

Clementine closed her eyes. "Oh. Ok." Lee did the same.

* * *

><p>Lee was plagued by dreams of his ex wife. "I love you, baby," Ashley Everett told him one morning. She kissed him and giggled.<p>

* * *

><p>Lee returned home early that same day and found his sick son silently standing at the door to his parents' bedroom, looking upset. Lee walked next to his son to get a glimpse inside the bedroom. Ashley was in bed with another man- a man he later found out to be Hans Zimmer, a Georgia State senator- and neither of them had spotted the sick pair of father and son. Lee walked into the room, deliberately making noise with his feet. They saw him. The half naked man broke an empty bottle of wine. Ashley screamed. He thrusted the shattered glass at Lee's chest. Lee spun and allowed the broken bottle to pass under his left arm. Lee cradled the outstretched wrist with his armpit, used the back of his head to bash the man's face in, and took hold of the glass weapon. Lee turned and slashed the man's chest.<p>

He fell down and started gasping for air, clearly in shock. Lee looked at his wife in disgust. After all of _his_ complaints about not being home, _she_ spends a day at home with someone else.

Ashley looked back in horror, green eyes revealing the terror in her heart. Lee dropped the bloodied glass to the floor. He looked back down at the gasping stranger that had gone strangely silent. His eyes were open.

And they weren't looking at Lee. They were looking straight up.

That was when Lee realized that he hadn't slashed the man's chest. He had slit his throat.

_Did I just kill a man?_ Lee thought. It didn't feel the way he imagined it would feel. It wasn't anger he felt, just... numbness. He looked back at Ashley, who had a phone in her hands. She pressed the phone to her ear. He slowly approached her, took the phone away, pressed it to his own ear, and spoke to the emergency services of Athens.

"I need a police car for a murder. A man named Lee Everett killed another guy." Lee put down the phone.

Lee walked out the door, passing a young boy with brown eyes who would have been in school, if he had not gotten a fever that day.

* * *

><p>Lee sat in the back of a police car, taking one last look at his house. In the upper window, he spotted the face of his sick son, Tyler Everett.<p>

* * *

><p>Lee awoke from his nightmare. He looked at Clementine to make sure this was real. Then he went back to sleep, sorrowful.<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey, get up," a man's voice roused Lee. Lee sat up and noisily yawned. He looked to his left.<p>

Clementine was already standing. She scratched her left arm. "I'm itchy," she announced.

"Well you slept in a barn, little lady. Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair." Clem gasped, looking up, apparently expecting to see eight legged arachnids nesting in her hair. "But I bet your daddy scared 'em all away, huh?" the newcomer said jovially.

Lee looked at the new guy. He wore a brown ball cap over his greying hair wore a short sleeved white shirt. "I'm not her dad," Lee admitted. "Name's Lee."

"I'm Kenny."

"Dad!" A shrill voice called. A boy in a checkered shirt and long pants materialized near the door. "We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" The boy ran off.

Kenny looked at Lee with a smile on his face. "We better get going we won't hear the end of it." The three of them walked out of the barn. "That's my boy, Ken Junior. We call him Duck, though."

"Dodging or quacking?" Lee asked.

"Quacking."

"DAD!" Ken Junior called.

"See?" Kenny humorously added. They all met together with a Belgian woman sitting on a haystack. "Word is you were on your way to Macon."

"My family's from there," Lee affirmed.

"Well Macon's on the way," Kenny said, "and, personally, I'd appreciate the company of a guy who could knock a couple of heads together if he has to."

"I'll see what the girl would like," Lee said back.

"Ah. Gotta consult the missus. I understand." Kenny turned to his wife. "Honey, Duck, this is Lee and uh, what's the girl's name?"

"Clementine," Lee provided.

"Clementine," Kenny recited.

The woman looked at Clementine. "That is a very pretty name," she said.

Clem hid behind Lee. "Thanks," she responded.

Shawn approached from near the pig pen. "Well, we should get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this fence up, the better."

"I want to build a fence," Duck spoke up.

"Yeah?" Shawn asked. "Well I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break."

"On the tractor?" Duck repeated. "Cool!"

"Duck and I will hop to it." The two of them left.

The Belgian woman looked back at Lee. "I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit."

Clementine sat down as Kenny walked to the hood of this truck. Kenny opened the hood and appeared to be fiddling with the engine.

_It's a new day, I guess._ Lee walked over to Kenny. "Hey there, uh, Kenny. Need any help?"

"Naw," Kenny said. "I think I got it." Lee turned to walk away, but Kenny spoke again. "Do you need any help?"

Lee turned back. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, in taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing? You got kids of your own?"

"I have a son named Tyler," Lee answered. "I haven't seen him since before all this."

"Where would he be?" the older man asked.

"I don't know. Whether he's in Virginia with his mom or here in Georgia, I hope he's safe."

"You and me both, pal," Kenny commented.

"So how is your son doing?" Lee inquired.

Kenny looked back at the engine. "Good, I think. Katjaa's got a sister up in Memphis; we were coming back from visiting her." Kenny looked up at Lee. "We were in a gas station and some guy grabbed my boy. I thought he was kidnaping him. I was on the fucker in about two seconds and... Christ. Just lucky I was there. We saw a lot of bodies before we stumbled upon Hershel's." He turned back to the car. "But we're a tough family, Lee. Ain't nothing going to faze us."

"Katjaa's your wife, right?"

"Yeah, don't you remember?" Kenny asked incredulously.

"Actually, you never told me your wife's name," Lee pointed out. "You just told her our names."

"Aw, shit. Sorry," Kenny apologized.

"See you later," Lee said and departed.

Lee went back over to Clementine. "You having a nice time with Katjaa, Clementine?"

Clementine nodded. "Yeah."

Lee went to go find Hershel. He checked through the house's windows, but he wasn't there. He went to find Shawn instead. He found him and Duck by the tractor. "How are you doing, Duck?" Lee offered.

"Good," Duck replied. "I'm gonna drive the tractor." Duck shifted a gear on the vehicle. "I am the foreman! Lift with your back Shawn!"

Lee smiled and shook his head at the ridiculous sight. He turned his attention back to Shawn. "Need a hand?"

"That'd be a great. If you could cut those two-bys-" he waved his hand towards a table with a plank of wood balanced neatly on it, "to length, that'd sure speed things up."

Lee gripped a handsaw and did as requested. Shawn paused from his work, either to examine what to do next or just taking a quick break, shaking his head almost wistfully. "My dad doesn't know how bad it is."

"No, he doesn't," Lee agreed. Who could know how bad it was without seeing it?

"...I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid - a boy. Just shot him right in the face."

"Was the boy one of the zombies?"

"I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help. He didn't even _hesitate_. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between the kid's eyes and pulled the trigger," his tone lowered, "You don't see things like that. It's not like in the movies."

"They don't fall like you think."

"I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there," Shawn looked over his shoulder. "How about yours? How's your family?"

"I hope my son is okay. I haven't heard from him since before yesterday," Lee said. "Maybe he's in Virginia."

"Oh man. I hope so too... Maybe it's not too bad there." _Didn't Shawn just complain about his dad not knowing how bad it is? _Lee thought bitterly.

Lee finished cutting through the board and let the pieces fall to the ground. He reached for another plank, but Shawn stood up and turned around. "That's probably all I need cut for now. Thanks."

"Hey, where's your dad?"

"Probably helping Nessie over at the barn." He knelt back down to his work. "We call her 'Nervous Nessie' for a reason."

Lee looked over towards the barn and saw a white-haired man with a pitchfork walking in. "Thanks," Lee said to Shawn. He then walked to the barn and found Hershel inside. Hershel looked up at him.

Then he looked back to his work. "How'd you get out of Atlanta?"

Lee thought about that before answering. "I was on my way out anyway. Timing of all this just happened to be right."

Hershel laughed. "Ha, if there ever is a good time for the supposed 'apocalypse.'"

_Supposed?_ Lee tried to change the subject. "This farm's and nice plot of land."

"Heh, had you told me twenty years ago I'd still be doing this, I would've told you that you were full of crap. Never was the plan, having a place like this. It was in the family, and I guess so was I. Family's important; it's all that matters. You agree with that?"

"Was brought up to, yes," Lee responded.

"Where's your family now? Parents? Wife? Girlfriend?"

"No wife, not anymore. I think she's up in Virginia, maybe. I hope that my son is with her."

"Me too," Hershel said. "But now you've got this little girl take care of. Clementine, is it? You just stumbled up on her?"

"I was being attacked and she came to my rescue." Lee couldn't help but fidget at that question, knowing that he was under a microscope right about then.

Hershel stopped what he was doing, stood up straight, and threw the pitchfork into the hay beside him. "Can I give you a piece of advice?"

Lee squinted his eyes suspiciously. "Sure."

"I don't know who you are or what you did, but you better become a better liar, and fast.

"Let's say things don't get better back in the cities. Or they get worse before they do. You're going to have to depend on the honesty of strangers if you're going to make it. And if those same people get questioning yours, you're going to be in trouble.

"So whoever you are," he continued, "and whatever you did, keep it to your damn self. But at least you have the common sense to listen to a man giving you advice."

A scream piercing the air cut off any further conversation. Lee turned to outside of the door. "What the?-"

"GO! I'll get my gun." Hershel ordered. Lee took the long way around the house. On his way, he passed Katjaa, who stumbled out of the house, looking for the source of the commotion. After rounding the house, Lee found Shawn trapped under the tractor, and a zombie trying to get through the fence at Shawn. A second later, another zombie grabbed Duck, who was sitting upon the tractor. Clementine stood there watching.

Lee's next move was instinctual: running over to the boy in danger. He noticed the loose board behind him up on the platter. He picked up the board and smashed it over the zombie's head. The zombie fell down, not yet dead again, though, as Kenny arrived to get his son to safety.

Kenny picked up his son, and ran back the way he came. Shawn yelled out for Kenny's help, and Kenny turned to face Shawn, but ultimately decided to get his son out of harm's way. So he abandoned Shawn.

The unstable boards snapped right next to Shawn, and two zombies broke through it. They both fell upon him and bit him into different places; one in the leg, one in the neck. Clementine, still watching, cried in horror. Hershel appeared right behind her with a shotgun.

He stopped in horror as well, but snapped out of it in order to shoot the zombies feasting on his unmoving son. He killed them both, and when a third one appeared, the one that had previously grabbed Duck, he shot that one too.

Everyone arrived a moment later to see Shawn's body, though when Clem and Duck showed up for a closer look, Katjaa held them back. Shawn's father knelt over his corpse, checking for signs of life, but gave up after a few seconds. He stationed himself erect. "Get out." He stood up and faced the group. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE."

Kenny looked down. "I'm sorry," he attempted.

"SORRY?" Hershel incredulously asked. "Your son is alive. You don't get to be sorry." He turned to Lee. "And YOU. You didn't even try to help."

"I was worried about the boy," Lee explained.

"Look at him. But you weren't worried about THAT." He turned back to his son. "Please, just go. Get out and never come back."

Lee spared one last glance for Shawn, then turned to face Kenny. They met each other's eyes. "You've got that ride to Macon if you want it." His family walked sadly to the truck. Clementine and Lee followed soon after.

* * *

><p>The engine of the pickup truck sputtered as the last of the gas was vaporized and burned off. "Well," Kenny stated. "This is as far as we're going." <em>Macon downtown<em>, Lee realized.

"Then it's far enough," Lee said, getting out of the car. They all left the car, and started walking forward. They rounded a corner and Lee found himself staring at his parents' drugstore.

"Look," Kenny's son called out. He was pointing at a looter picking at an overturned car.

"Hey there," Kenny shouted. "You friendly? Truck's run out of gas." The looter showed his face, revealing it to have no skin. "Fuck!" Kenny yelled. A horde of zombies cornered them from all directions.

"We're trapped," Katjaa said. Duck screamed. A zombie was on him, and was only kept at bay by a lucky arm beneath its chin that Duck had put up to protect himself with.

Gunshot. A bullet tore through the zombie's head. Lee looked back at the drugstore, and there were people in front of the doors. A woman in a white and black suit was shooting at other zombies. A Korean man was with her.

Duck ran over and hugged his parents. The Korean man urged them inside. Lee pushed Clementine ahead of him as he ran into the drugstore. After everyone was inside, their male savior locked the front gate.

Lee entered the drugstore to notice a group of people expecting them, or at least not surprised to see them.

"We can't take risks like this," said one other woman to the first one.

"And we can't just let people die either," their female savior said.

"When I say 'that door stays shut no matter what,' I fucking mean it," that other woman, who was currently asserting herself as the leader, said. "We don't know who these people are; they could be dangerous!"

Lee took a look at the group using his parents' drugstore as a hiding place. There was a quiet guy sitting in a corner by the door. There was also an old man right behind their leader. He was speaking. "Worse, they could've led them right to us."

"Where the hell is your humanity? They would've died out there."

The old man regarded the group from the farm. "Then we let 'em."

Their leader was not exuding a strong enough presence as a leader. If necessary, Lee could turn their two saviors against her. The quiet guy, he didn't know if he could do the same for.

"We're not dangerous," Lee pled. "We're just regular folks.

"What's dangerous is a bunch of people running outside and drawing their attention to us," the leader retorted.

"Lee's right," Kenny stated from behind him. "We're just regular folks, but _we_ actually like helping people"

"You'll have to excuse her," the female savior explained.

"The hell he, or anyone will," the leader shot back. "This is about survival, do you guys not see what's happening?"

A small hand grabbed Lee's left hand. Lee looked down. "What is it?"

"I-I have to pee," Clementine said.

"In a minute, Clem." She looked down.

"They've got kids, Lilly," the Korean guy said.

"Those things outside don't care," the leader- Lilly- remarked.

"Maybe you should go join 'em, then," Kenny growled. "You'll have something in common!"

"Goddammit, Lilly," the old man said. "You have to control these people."

Lilly faced him. "Carley and Glenn just ran out there.

"She's not wrong," Lee said. "They took a risk."

"Yes we did," Lilly agreed.

"And we appreciate it. Now let's settle down."

The old man turned around, saying "Holy shit." He turned back to the crowd before him. "Son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!"

"He wasn't bitten," Lee defended.

"Hell he wasn't. We have to end this, now."

Kenny stepped between the old man and Duck. "Over my dead body."

"We'll dig one hole."

"No!" Katjaa intervened. "I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!"

"Don't you fucking people get it? We've already seen this happen. We let someone with a bite stay and-and WE all end up bitten!"

"Shut up," Kenny warned.

"We gotta throw him out! Or smash his head in!"

"KENNY!" Katjaa screamed frantically. "STOP HIM!"

"Lee, what do we do about this guy?"

"Dad," Lilly said. "It's just a boy. I-It's-"

"Lilly, I'll handle this," the old man countered.

"But your heart dad, you need to calm down."

"We kick his ass," Lee asserted, answering Kenny's question from before.

"That's what I'm thinking," Kenny said.

"Everyone chill the fuck out!" Carley yelled.

"Nobody is doing anything," Lilly said.

"Shut up, Lilly." He turned to face Carley. "And you, shut the fuck up. They will find us and they will get in here, and none of this will fucking matter. But right now we're about to be trapped in here with one of those things!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kenny demanded.

"HE'S BITTEN! That's how you TURN."

"He's not bitten!" Katjaa said again. "Lee, stop this! It's upsetting him!"

"Oh, I'm 'upsetting' him? Upsetting is getting eaten alive!"

"Sit down, OR ELSE," Lee jumped in.

"Or what?" Larry inquired. "You gonna make me? You and what homo parade?"

"This one," Kenny confirmed.

"Is that right? Little boy! Before you eat your mommy, you get to watch your daddy get killed."

Kenny's face was a look of pure rage. "I'm gonna kill him, Kat. Just worry about Duck!"

"Lee," Clementine's voice rang through the stalemate. She had gotten over to the bathroom without anybody noticing.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"There's someone in there."

Lee looked at Lilly. "It's just locked. Key's behind the counter." Lilly's face showed that she didn't know where they were. "Probably."

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just looking out for my daughter!" Larry said.

"No," Kenny said, pushing Larry's shoulder with his fingertips. "You're just the guy arguing for killing a kid!"

"He's covered in muck! She'll find the bite. WATCH."

"She _won't_," Kenny retorted.

"And if she does?" Larry asked. "First thing he'll do his sink his teeth into his mom's face. Then, once she's dead, he'll probably pounce on your little girl," he said, looking at Lee. "She'll turn fast. And then, they'll be three. And that boy, is the ball game."

"Then we deal with it then," Lee promised. "But right now we're just freaking everybody out."

"Then get ready to deal with it because that boy is BITTEN!"

"It's not gonna happen!" Kenny countered.

"It is," Larry asserted. "And we're tossing him out now!"

"NO," Lee said. "You don't touch that boy, you don't _touch_ anybody. I've got a little girl I'm trying to protect in here too." Lee moved closer in a threatening manner. "You want to get violent you old fuck?! Well, COME ON! You better have a plan to kill me though, because it's ME before anyone else in here."

A sharp cry cut the air.

Clementine was being attacked by a zombie from the bathroom. He should have asked Lilly if there was someone in there that she knew about. "Clementine!" Lee yelled. He ran towards the counter to circle it, but his leg pain flared due to his running and combined with him bumping into a frozen Lilly, he fell to the ground right behind the counter.

His vision blurry, Clementine's figure was the only thing in his line of sight. The zombie had just grabbed one of her legs.

Lee stood up promptly and limped over to save her. He grabbed the zombie's shoulders and pulled it away. "Get away from her you son of a bitch," Lee said. He had accidentally pulled it to its feet, and it was now on him. He was backed up against the wall, keeping it at bay the same way Duck did outside. He felt himself slipping his hold. Its teeth came in.

Gunshot. A bullet tore through the zombie's head. It fell to its knees on his left, and he kicked it to its back, never to rise again. He bent over, hands on his knees. "Man..." Lee sighed. Lee looked over towards the shooter.

It was Carley again. True to form of when she saved Duck, she shot the zombie just before it had bitten him. She lowered her gun. "You okay?"

"Just great, thanks."

Some banging started on the gate and windows. "Uh... guys?" Glenn asked.

Everyone backed up. The quiet guy ran to the back of the store. "Everybody DOWN!" Lilly commanded. "Stay QUIET!"

Clem ducked behind Lee. "They're gonna get in," Larry whispered.

"SHUT UP," Kenny ordered.

Multiple consecutive gunshots rang out from above. The zombies outside stopped banging on the doors. "Is that the military?" Lee asked quietly.

"I don't know," Lilly answered honestly.

"Thank God for whatever it is," Glenn said.

Larry spoke as he normally did: by grumbling. "We almost DIED because of this bitch and her itchy trigger finger! That was stupid! That was-" Larry cut off, clutched his chest, and fell to the ground, causing his daughter to cry out for him and run to his side.

"I did try to get him to calm down," Lee joked.

"Can it, asshole," Lilly yelled sharply. "It's his heart."

"My pills," Larry moaned.

"Uh-um. Nitroglycerin pills?" Katjaa stammered.

"Yes. We're out. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here! Please, try to get in there! Behind the counter, where the pills are!"

"We'll get in there somehow," Lee promised.

"Thank you so much," Lilly replied. "We need nitroglycerin pills. Please get in there. I'll keep an eye on my dad."

Kenny stepped into the center. "Everyone else should get comfy and look for anything useful. We could be in here a while."

"I'm starting to think this drugstore isn't a permanent solution," Glenn said.

"You're right," Kenny said. "This ain't exactly Fort Knox."

"What do you suggest?" Lee asked Glenn.

"We need as much gas as possible so we can all get out of downtown Macon. Fast."

"Agreed," Lee said.

"Then I'll head out and get gas," Glenn volunteered. "There's a motel not too far from here, towards the end of Peachtree. I'll work my way towards it and then loop back siphoning what I can."

"Damn, that'd be great," Lee admitted.

"Well, it's gotta get done. Plus, I'm quick and I know Macon."

"Local?" Lee asked. Clementine stepped out from behind him.

"Born and raised," Glenn answered.

"If you're going to do that, here's a walkie talkie if you get in a tight spot. Hopefully, you won't need it." Lee took the radio from the youngest of the group and handed it over to the Asian man.

"Cool," Glenn stated.

"Clementine's got the other one," Lee explained. "Check in with her and get back here as soon as you can.

"And you," Kenny said. "What's your name?"

"It's Lilly. My dad's Larry."

"Keep a good eye on him. These boys will work on getting you your medicine."

"That's right," Lee confirmed.

"And you, keep an eye on that door. You're our lookout."

"It's Doug," the quiet guy said. "You got it."

"And I'm Carley," the shooter said.

"Ok, Carley. You'll shift in with Doug when he needs it. For now, get some rest. You're a good shot, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"You got it, boss," Carley said.

"Now get him those pills," Kenny ordered.

Everyone had stopped speaking and had gone to their positions: Kenny with his family by the ice cream counter, Doug by the door and Carley nearby, Lilly watching

Larry out of the way, and Glenn rushing off to get gasoline.

Lee walked over to Kenny, Katjaa and Duck. Duck, thankfully, was not bitten and now clean.

"Hey Lee; you really gave that old man hell," Kenny complimented.

"Yeah. We got pushed, you know," Lee said.

"You don't have to tell me; I was ready to tear the man's head off. Anyway, we, Kat and I, appreciate your support."

"Thank you, Lee," Katjaa said.

"Are you guys alright?" Lee asked.

"We're just fine, considering," Kenny answered.

"How about you, Duck?"

Duck didn't react. He just kept his eyes forward on Larry. Then he looked down. His mom answered for him. "We've all been through a lot."

"Lee, you got a second?" Kenny asked.

"Sure."

The two of them walked a short distance away from Kenny's family. Kenny looked depressed and regretful. "Back on Hershel's farm..." Kenny began.

"... Yeah," Lee prodded.

"We didn't even try to save him. That blood is on our hands, you know?"

"It happened pretty fast," Lee ventured.

"I guess, but I can't stop seeing him in my head," Kenny informed Lee.

"We can't kill ourselves over it-"

"WE killed that boy," Kenny asserted. "We could've saved him together."

"We did what we could," Lee consoled. "Bad things happen. We didn't make a choice that killed Shawn. You think you do, when you think back on it. But in a moment? When things are really out-of-control? You don't have any choice."

"I guess," Kenny admitted.

"Try to let it go," Lee suggested.

Lee then went over to the office door of the drugstore. Clementine appeared from behind him. "Can I come with you?"

"Of course," Lee said. He opened the door. They both walked in. Clementine stayed close to the door while Lee walked over to a bloody section of the floor. "I can't," he said to himself. "I can't think about them in here." Clem closed the door. Lee walked over to the bedding, and found a broken frame with a picture inside. He picked up the frame, took the picture out, looked at it nostalgically, and tore himself out of the family photo.

"Find anything?" A voice asked from behind. Lee wheeled around and saw Carley.

"Just a picture of whoever was here," Lee stated.

"I know who you are," Carley suddenly said. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who killed State Senator who was sleeping with your wife. This is your parents' store; folks around town know the owners son got himself a life sentence, but I'm a reporter for WABE in Atlanta. I paid attention to that trial.

"Supposedly," she continued. "Your son, Tyler was said to have had evidence that would have either acquitted you or reduced your sentence, but he never got the chance. Maybe you're a murderer. But I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy. Did you tell anyone out there who you were, or that you were tied to this place?"

"What's it to you?" Lee demanded.

"To ME? I'm not the one with a felony record. You seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there. You got this little girl take care of, and... look, don't make me wrong on this."

"I don't plan to," Lee said.

"Good," the news reporter said. "Because if this lasts longer than a few days and you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem."

"I hear you," Lee returned.

"I'll just keep it to myself."

"Thanks," Lee said.

She smiled and looked away. She turned back to Lee. "Don't worry about it." She opened the door and left the office.

Lee walked over to a pallet stacked up against the wall. He heaved it away, and a stick clattered on the floor. Lee pulled the wooden pallet to the side. He picked up the stick. It was a walking cane.

"What's that?" Clementine asked.

"This was my dad's cane. He'd zip around here on it from time to time."

"Was he sick?" Clementine asked.

"Nah, he was okay. I actually saw him whoop shoplifters with it. This cane's this place any better than any guard dog ever could. Plus he knew how to make it look cool. Like you, with your hat."

"My dad gave it to me," Clementine stated.

"See, Dads are smart like that."

"My mom says dads are foolish," Clementine muttered and walked away. Lee chuckled at that. He walked back over to the desk.

"Better get this door cleared, huh?" he asked himself.

"Can I help?" Clementine asked.

Lee looked at her happily. "Sure." They both grabbed the desk and prepared to move it. "Here we go. Watch your fingers in the drawers." They heaved backwards. "How are you doing?"

"Yeah. It's not that heavy," Clementine said.

"How about with everything outside?" Lee inquired.

"It's not good."

"No," Lee agreed. "It's not."

"But I think it'll be okay," Clem pointed out.

"Okay, here we go." They pulled on the desk again. Clem let go after Lee stopped. Lee pushed his side of the desk to turn it.

"Do you have kids?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah, I have a son named Tyler."

"Okay, good," Clementine said. "How old is he?"

"He's eleven," Lee informed her. "But he'd be turning twelve in two weeks."

"Where is he?" Clem wondered aloud.

"I don't know."

"Oh."

"Alright, a little further," Lee requested. Clementine grabbed the corner of her side of the desk and pulled back, turning the desk. When the desk was perpendicular to the door, he prepared to push the desk.

"Do you have a wife?" Clementine asked.

"No, not anymore."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"You didn't know," Lee said.

"I'm just sorry for being mean."

Lee bent down to see her face. "Look, my wife and I aren't together anymore, and there isn't really anything that can change that. I just wish things would have been different."

"Yeah," Clementine responded.

"I got into some trouble and then I didn't talk to her for a while. This used to be my parents' store, actually, but let's just keep that between you and me, okay?"

"Okay," Clementine affirmed. "Because of the trouble?"

"That's right. Now let's get this thing done." They made one final push into the wall. Lee walked over to the door. "It's locked. We need to track down the keys if we're going to help Larry." He searched around the room for the keys, but found no sign of them. He even checked in the drawers of the desk, but only found a television remote, which he pocketed. He walked back over to the unlocked door. "Wanna head back into the drugstore with me, Clem?"

"Yeah. Lee?"

"Yeah."

"You're not bad, right?" she asked.

"I... why are asking me that?" Lee question back.

"That lady said you killed someone. Was that because he was one of the things trying to eat you?"

"No," he answered honestly. "He wasn't."

"Oh. Was he bad?" Clem asked nervously.

"He was," Lee said forcefully. Lee opened the door and they both walked through. Clem sat down in her previous spot.

"Hey there, this is Glenn and uh, I'm kinda in a jam here," Clementine's radio emitted. "Uh, little girl, if you're there, can you put your daddy on the phone? Or on the talkie, or whatever?"

She gave it to Lee. "This is Lee, what's up?"

"So... I'm down at that motor inn and, well, I-I'm stuck."

"Stuck?" Lee repeated, not sure if he had heard correctly.

"Yeah, I, uh, saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of the roaming ones got to jump on me. I'm hiding over here but they won't leave."

"What's up?" Kenny whispered from the side.

"Glenn's trapped down at the motor inn," he said to Kenny. "Hey, Glenn, we're gonna talk it over and send a group to come get you, alright?"

"Awesome," he replied on the other end. "I'll sit tight 'til then."

"Sounds good."

"What do you think?" Kenny asked.

"I think Doug's not great around zombies, and you got your family here. I'll take Carley and her dead eye down to the motor inn, get Glenn, and get back here as fast as I can."

"If that's what you want to do..." Kenny told him.

"Somebody's got to."

"Yeah, I'm in," Carley said.

"Good, then let's go."

* * *

><p>Lee and Carley arrived at the motor inn and immediately fell into cover as a few zombies were spotted. One nearly caught them as it stood up right as the two of them approached and Lee said, "Shit, get down."<p>

They both dropped and waited for the zombie to leave. The ice maker started clanging from the inside. "Did you see that?" Carley asked.

"Sure did," Lee answered. "Be ready to shoot."

"GUYS!" Glenn said after he opened the ice maker. "Oh man, I'm glad you're here."

"All right, that wasn't so hard," Lee commented as Glenn stepped out of the ice maker and joined them behind cover.

"Can we get out of here before any of these things notice us?" Carley asked.

"Not yet. There's a survivor trapped up there," Glenn mentioned.

"No way, we gotta go. Now." Carley asserted.

"Listen. I was out here looking for gas. And then locked up there in the corner room, I heard crying coming from inside."

"Who is it?" Lee asked.

"It's a girl. We talked and she got frightened. I was trying to get in and help her and she started yelling saying I was bitten. I tried to convince her I wasn't and that's when all of these guys came out of the forest. A couple of them almost got me and I ended up hiding in the ice machine."

"Lucky you; now let's go," Carley said.

"We can't just leave her."

"Damn right we can't," Lee agreed.

"You guys are suicidal," Carley informed them. "Over a girl!"

"I'm saving her, with or without you," Glenn promised.

"Think about if it was you," Lee told Carley.

Carley shook her head. "Fine. Let's go save Glenn's damsel in distress." They followed her to a low wall nearby that they all crouched behind.

Lee told them the plan: kill them all quietly. He grabbed a pillow on the other side of the low wall, then instructed them to follow him to the truck on the far side of the motel. He spotted a zombie just sitting down next to a car. "Get out your gun," he told Carley.

"But the noise," she offered.

"Just follow my lead. Stay right behind me." Lee quickly approached the undead man with the pillow in hand. It spotted him, and was about to moan at him, but he smothered it with the pillow. Carley materialized right next to him. She placed the barrel of the gun into the pillow and fired, effectively silencing the killing shot. None of the zombies chased after them. Glenn appeared and took cover near the car. Lee opened the door of the car and unlocked the gearshift. He also found a spark plug on the seat. He pocketed it. "Have any use for a spark plug?" He asked Glenn.

"Spark plug," Glenn said thoughtfully. "You should hold onto that. Could come in handy." They went back to the truck for cover. Lee went over to the glass and wound up to throw the spark plug into the passenger door's window.

"Wait-" a voice said from the side. "Let me see the spark plug. The porcelain inside these things turns car windows to tissue paper." Glenn stepped on it then picked up a tiny fragment of it. He placed the fragment into Lee's hand. He reared up and used it to break the window. None of the zombies found them.

Lee picked up the screwdriver. "That could scramble a brain pretty good," Glenn said, delighted. "That's exactly what I was thinking," Lee agreed.

Lee and Glenn trapped an undead victim with a car by rolling it into the wall. No other zombies took notice. The trio ran back to the low wall and took cover. Lee hopped around the wall and approached an eating zombie from behind, attempting to kill it. He raised the screwdriver and plunged it into its head. Again, no other zombies took notice. With Carley staying behind, Glenn and Lee squatted down in front of the recreational vehicle nearby. They spotted their next target while being hidden. Lee whistled. The zombie drew close and was kill when Lee stabbed it between the eyes. One zombie, the one trapped by the car, noticed Lee. Quickly, he killed it, leaving his awl in its head. Its head bounced off of the car hood and the screwdriver embedded itself inside of the zombie's head.

The three off them went up the staircase to finish the job. "Why don't you guys lag behind; just in case this goes to hell?" Lee asked of them.

"Ok," Carley said. "We'll be right behind you."

He, alone, held his axe and, working under stealth, cut one of the last two zombies out. The second one made Lee struggle, but he kicked it away one and chopped it's head off. The area was clear of danger. For now.

Carley and Glenn joined Lee as he calmly tried to speak to the trapped woman. "Hello? We're here to help." Lee asked.

"Please, just go away!" the woman exclaimed.

"If you open up," Lee said, "we can take you somewhere safer. We've got a group in town."

"No, no, no!" the woman exclaimed again.

"She's in trouble," Glenn concluded.

"Miss? We're coming in," Lee informed. He busted the wood holding the door and kicked the door. However, it didn't budge.

"Stop, just stop! I'm... coming out." She opened the door, revealing to the others that her side was wounded and bloody. "I... I said stay away."

"Guys, she's been bitten," Carley pointed out.

"What?" Glenn asked. "Shit, shit."

"I told you," the infected woman said. "I said go away, I'm bit. But you wouldn't just leave."

"Let's calm down," Lee said. "You could be fine. Just tell me your name, and we'll talk this out."

"I won't be fine," the woman said, agitated at his poor choice of words. "My boyfriend got bitten. You get sick and then you die and then you come back and you kill anything you find."

"You have a boyfriend?" Glenn asked.

"GLENN," Carley growled.

"I don't want that! It's not Christian! Please, just go!"

"Listen, just tell me your name."

"Irene," she said.

"Irene, listen. You could be-"

"Did you not pay attention to those things out here?!" Irene demanded. "They were trying to eat me. And they did," she ended, sobbing.

"Okay, we'll leave," Lee said. If for no other reason, he would leave out of respect for her wishes. "Just try to take care of yourself, for whatever time you have left," Lee requested.

"You have a gun," the Christian lady said to Carley. "Can I borrow it?"

"What do you mean 'borrow?'" Carley asked.

"Give it to me!" Irene asked. She seemed crazed. "I need to end this."

"You can't have the gun," Lee interjected.

"Give it to me, PLEASE!"

"This is crazy!" Glenn observed.

"Please, step back," Carley pled.

"It's just two seconds, just one bullet, and I can be with my family, and it'll all be fine," the bitten woman explained.

Carley took a step back. The other woman took two steps forward. "Back up!" Carley yelled.

Irene lunged for the gun. "PLEASE!" Lee and Glenn jumped in to pry her off of Carley. They all huddled aggressively into a corner of the balcony. With all of their weights on the rundown, old, eroded structure, the unstable surface jiggled beneath them and snapped.

Lee fell into the air. He hit the ground, landing on his shoulder. Luckily, nothing felt broken to him. The others looked like they were mostly uninjured, the only major injury amongst the three of them being Glenn holding his right knee lightly.

Lee found his feet, like he had done the same way pretty much the entire day; by pushing off of his leg. He stood up and saw that the woman had the gun. "Miss. Just put the gun down."

She backed up slowly, gun pointed towards her own head. "I can't."

"Miss, just relax now... you need to think this through... we'll find you a doctor," her arm was shaking. "It'll be okay, let's all just..." the gun shifted. "No, no, no, no, NO!"

She spoke her last words. "You can't." The gun fired and she collapsed to the ground.

Glenn walked over to the gun, not limping at all. He picked up the firearm. He threw up. "Let's get out of here," Carley said when Glenn finished vomiting.

Zombies started coming out of the woods, attracted to the gunshot's noise. Everyone got into the car, Glenn handing the gun off to Carley. Glenn drove off into the night, leaving behind a pool of blood.

* * *

><p>Everyone entered through the alley side door. Then, they entered the general drugstore, and were greeted by Kenny. "Everything okay?"<p>

"Yeah," Lee replied. "We had some close calls, but Glenn is fine, and... well, yeah... we're okay."

"I've got a few cans of gas for your pick up in the trunk of my car," Glenn reported.

"Good to hear it," Kenny said.

"And things back here?" Carley interjected.

"Quiet. Our 'friend' is still in and out over there. He won't survive anymore stress."

"The next order of business is getting those pills out of the pharmacy," Lee said.

Everyone went back to where they were before leaving. Lee walked over to Doug, basically the only person he hadn't talked to yet. "Hey, Doug," he started. "Those things still roaming around out there?"

"Yeah," Doug answered. "You wanna go out there and have a look around?"

"Ha, I'm not suicidal yet."

"No. The gate out there is closed. We can hang out in front of the store and be fine."

"Oh," Lee said. "Well then, let's go out there."

Doug opened the door, they both walked out, and they both crouched down. Lee inspected the environment. During his inspection, he noticed a zombie trapped under a fallen lamppost.

Lee's brother.

"Oh shit."

"What?" Doug asked. He looked in the direction Lee was looking. He saw the trapped zombie as well. "Do you know that guy?"

"He could be a drugstore employee," Lee made an excuse.

"So you're saying he might have the pharmacy keys?"

"I'm saying he has the pharmacy keys," Lee verified.

"How can you be sure?" Doug asked.

Lee pulled out the family photo from the office. "I found this in the office. That boy in the photo works here. The keys being on him is as good a bet as we can make."

"Yeah, I agree," Doug said. "We just need to figure out how to get out there and get them. You wouldn't need long, right?"

Lee shook his head. "Maybe we can distract them somehow," Doug said. Lee stood up and destroyed the lock on the gate with his fire axe. "Awesome." Doug tried giving Lee a high five, but Lee just ignored him. Lee opened the gate, picked up a brick that was on the ground and tossed it over to the electronic store that was across the street. The glass shattered, a loud, distinguishable sound. A few zombies took notice, but not all. "Vandalism?"

"Shut up, Doug," Lee said.

Lee pulled out the television remote. He aimed it as close as he could to the tv's, but nothing happened. He sighed. "Think you can do anything with this?" Lee asked Doug.

"You know what I could do..." Doug took the remote from Lee. "This remote is universal. I could reprogram this to function with those tv's in the electronic warehouse."

"You could just do that?"

"I memorized all of the codes while I was in AV. Okay, here we go." Doug pressed the power button. The tv's all turned on to the emergency broadcast signal. Doug turned the volume up.

"Well fucking done, Doug. All of that dorky nonsense might just save a life."

"Who's to say it already hasn't?" Doug responded.

All of the zombies strolled over to the tv's. "Now is the time," Lee said. He ran over to his undead brother, clutching his axe in both hands.

Lee Everett found his undead brother trying to claw at him. "Hey there, Bud." It- not he,_ it_- tried to grab him. "I don't know what happened, but if you'd been there, you would have died for mom and dad, so yeah, I'm just going to assume that's what happened."

"Did you find them yet?" Doug whispered loud enough for Lee to hear.

"Give me a second." Lee shut his eyes. "I shouldn't have left the family. Fuck, I mean, you know what I mean." Lee just stood there in silence. He raised his axe. Then he brought it down and he ended his brother's misery.

Lee searched for the pharmacy keys in his brothers pockets. He found them, then held them up for Doug to see. Doug was looking at the zombies. "HOLY CRAP!" he exclaimed. "RUN!" The zombies were already after Lee.

Lee traversed the distance back to the drugstore. Lee made it inside before they could reach him, and Doug shut the gate behind them. "Man, that was close," he commented.

"But we did it," Lee remarked. "That's all that matters." Lee looked down and went to Lilly. "I've got the keys."

"Great," Lilly said. "God, you're amazing. Let's get in there." Lilly followed Lee into the office, where he went to the locked door, used the key to unlock it and walked inside.

Alarms started ringing a second later.

"Oh no," Lilly said.

"Shit," Lee said, more to himself than to Lilly.

"We gotta hurry." Lilly ran for the pills she needed for Larry while Lee ran to grab another picture in the store.

* * *

><p>The alarm continued. Scores of the undead were outside, clawing and bashing their way in. Inside the drugstore, everyone ran for their belongings. Katjaa ran for her son. "Duck," Katjaa said, "c'mon baby, time to go."<p>

"I'm gonna get that truck pulled up 'round back," Kenny ran in and said.

"Do it fast," Lilly said. "I've got to get my dad out of here."

"I don't plan on dilly-dallying," Kenny stated. He looked at his wife. "Honey, take Duck into the office and barricade the living hell out of the door behind me. Glenn, when you hear me honking the alley, start getting people out of here. Doug, Carley and Lee, you guys make sure our defenses stay up 'til then. And Lee, I better take that axe, in case I run into any of them on the way to the truck."

"Here you go," Lee said, tossing the axe to Kenny.

The door started shaking. "Guys, that door's not locked anymore!" Doug said.

"Shit!" Kenny yelled. "You three get on it! I'll get back as fast as I can!"

Lee fixed Clementine with a meaningful glance. "Stay away from the windows," he warned.

Doug, Carley, and Glenn ran to the door to hold it against the walkers. Lee then took Glenn's place as Glenn ran to do what he had been told to do.

"Hey, Lee..." Doug began, "if we don't make it through this, you should know that... I think you're a great guy."

"We WILL make it through this," Lee asserted.

"Doug, if we don't make it through this," Carley said, "you should know-"

The zombies outside made a significantly strong thump on the door, causing Lee to be knocked away from the double doors. He hopped back to it and pushed with all of his might. With all of them heaving, the door shut.

"I should know WHAT?" Doug asked. Carley gave him a look of confusion. "You said I should know-"

"SHIT!" Carley exclaimed as the barricade covering a large window toppled over. "I've got it."

"You sure?" Lee asked.

"Oh, shit!" Carley repeated.

"What? Oh shit!" Carley pulled out her pistol and fired upon the undead, keeping them back from Doug and Lee, picking them off, one by one. A moderate thump almost pushed Lee away again, but he managed to hold on.

"Clementine!" Lee yelled out. She appeared before him. "Can you look for something to stick in-between the handles! Something real strong, okay?!"

"Ok!" Clementine said. She ran to do as instructed.

Another powerful knock on the door succeeded in pushing Lee off the doors again, and again he hoped back into the door to hold the zombies back. He and Doug closed the doors.

"CLEMENTINE! Did you find anything?!"

"Nothing. Oh wait!" Clementine ran into the office.

A sound of shattered glass and snapping wood sounded out to Lee's left. "That window is screwed!" Doug observed.

"GO!" Lee bellowed. Doug dashed over to the boarded up window, and grabbed a hammer on the display table next to it. He proceeded to bust the nails back into place.

A third boom cashed into the double doors, and Lee was thrown off the door. A single zombie thrusted its hand through the ajar doorway. Lee pushed the doors shut and its hand detached and dropped to the floor inside of the drugstore. He leaned back against the door handles.

Clementine reappeared in front of him, holding out her hands. "I found something!" Clementine said. It was a walking cane.

Lee quickly braced the door with his father's cane. He took a step back from the door, testing the strength of the cane. "Shit," Carley yelled, "I'm out. I'm out! Lee! Help me. Ammo, in my purse!"

Doug cried out as well. He had dropped the hammer to the floor and was being dragged backwards into the wooden boards. Unable to pry himself free from the zombies, he called for help.

Lee took a step towards Doug. Then he turned and took a step towards Carley. He froze in place.

He tried moving towards Carley, but then heard Doug screaming. "Get them off me! GET THEM OFF ME!" Clementine looked at Lee, anticipating what he would do and who he would save. Clementine looked at Carley.

Lee made up his mind. He went to Carley's aid. Lee grabbed Carley's purse, fished through it for a magazine, and threw her ammo, enabling her to shoot more zombies as they approached her.

Suddenly, Doug was pulled through the wall. "Ah, no! GET 'EM OFF ME!" He was then pounced upon by the horde, all feasting on his flesh. Lee faced the unfortunate fact that Doug could not be saved and was now lost.

"Oh my god," Carley said before firing three more rounds.

Kenny bursted through the office door carrying the fire axe. It had fresh blood on its handle. "Let's go!" he barked.

"They got Doug," Carley mumbled. "They... they..."

"It doesn't matter," Larry interrupted. "You gotta move!"

Carley, Clementine, and Lee ran toward the exit without Doug, Carley talking to herself about what she had just witnessed. Clementine was tripped by a crawling zombie with a screwdriver in its shoulder. Lee ran over to it, and stomped on its head. It didn't let go. He brought his foot down again. It still didn't let go. Lee stepped on its head and didn't remove his foot, trying to squish its head instead of smashing it. This time, it let go.

Clementine crawled backwards away from the still moving zombie. She stood up and ran over to the office door held open by Larry.

Lee ran up to the door, but was stopped by Larry. "You're not coming with us, you son of a bitch!" He punched Lee down and left the room.

"No!" Clementine yelled as Larry dragged her away. The zombie Lee stomped on was still crawling and was nearing his barely conscious figure.

Kenny appeared in the darkened doorway, holding the axe. He raised the axe to strike with it. Lee raised his hand protectively, but knew it would be useless against Kenny. Kenny swung downwards, and the axe embedded itself in the head of the crawling zombie. He pulled the axe free after it stopped moving.

"I'm not letting somebody else get eaten today," he said. Kenny extended his left hand. Lee accepted it and rose to his feet. "Especially a good friend."

Lee turned around, looking at what was left of his parents' life. His dad's cane had snapped and the undead were pouring in. The window Doug had been pulled out of was covered in red liquids. Lee grabbed the office door handle and closed it.

Lee ran out into the alley exit, Kenny ahead of him, who ran down a zombie with the axe. He rounded a corner to his left, and the truck awaited on the other side. Clementine already in the truck along with Kenny's family and Carley, Lee jumped into the back of the pickup truck. Everyone else in their own cars, Larry even taking what Lee assumed to have been Doug's car, formed one convoy, and they all drove off into the night.

* * *

><p>Back at the motel where Glenn had found gas, Lilly was stacking the bodies of the undead, including the woman that had shot herself, in preparation for their incineration. The group had decided to establish the Travelier Motel as their base of operations.<p>

Lee looked nostalgically at his family picture. He now knew that they were all dead. He put the picture into his pocket and pulled out a different one. Lee had trouble suppressing his tears as he looked at Tyler's face.

Gunshots. Lee looked up into the distance as they continued to shoot off until he heard a woman's screams pierce the air. The gunfire silenced.

Lee walked over to Glenn. "Hey, Glenn," Lee said.

Glenn, listening to the radio talking about Georgia city conditions in alphabetical order, stopped Lee from talking with his hand. The radio mentioned Atlanta being a stage nine catastrophe zone. "I think I need to go."

"To Atlanta?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. I got friends there and I just can't stay here knowing that they could be trapped in that city."

"It sounds like nobody knows what's happening there," Lee said. "When we left a few days ago it could've gone either way."

"I gotta take my chances."

Lilly walked up to them, but Lee signaled for her to walk away. "Find your friends and be safe," Lee said.

"Thanks, Lee," said Glenn, "that means a lot to me. I don't mean to abandon you all, but this like an okay setup, and I'm sure things will be back to normal around here in no time."

"Let's hope."

Glenn looked at the spot where Irene fell before driving his car away into the darkness of the night. Eventually, his taillights. Lee then walked over to Kenny. "Hey, Ken."

"Close call back there," Kenny said. They shook hands. "I think I know what you're doing."

"Shit, man. Do any of us?"

"With Clementine, I mean," Kenny explained. "You told me you had a son named Tyler. Not everyone knows how to take care of a kid. Well, with the things you showed me today, I can honestly say that you know what you're doing."

"Thanks, Kenny."

"You got it." Kenny turned back to what he had been doing before. Lee left to go talk to the WABE news reporter.

Lee arrived at Carley's preferred area of solitude. "How are you doing, Carley?"

"I'm okay," she said. "Y'know, considering."

"I do," Lee said. "Yeah."

"I can't stop thinking about Doug. We couldn't have saved him, could we?"

"I don't think so," Lee said. "It happened pretty fast."

"I know it's stupid... we just met... and he was such a... it's just that... I think that I liked him."

"Well, I'm sure he liked you too."

"He better have," she said, sarcastically. "Anyway, I'd rather be alone I think."

"I understand." Lee turned to leave.

"Wait, Lee?"

He looked back. "What is it?"

"How did you choose?" she asked. "We both needed you... you picked me."

"Clementine looked at you," Lee answered back.

"Oh. I just wish we could've both made it, you know?"

"Me too, Carley."

Lee walked over to Clementine, side glancing Larry in the process. She didn't look up at him. "What's wrong, Clem?"

"I got grabbed again," she answered.

"I was there though," Lee said.

"I fell, and my walkie-talkie broke. Glenn had the other one."

"Aww, I'm sorry."

"I know I need to be tough, I'm just sad. I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's how I used to talk to my mom and dad... and now they're gone. It's gone."

"Maybe we can find you another one," Lee suggested.

"I'll just keep this one," the little girl informed Lee. "I guess."

Lee was going to ask if she needed anything else, but was cut off by a demanding voice, whispering "Lee, come here for a second."

Lee groaned. "Let me go deal with this." Duck walked in as soon as Lee stood up, and immediately started talking about some comic book about Super-Dinosaur written by some dork named Robert Kirkman.

Lee met Larry's eyes from less than a foot away. "What do you want?" he angrily asked.

"You like my daughter?" Larry asked, completely oblivious to the fact that he was standing in front of a man that he had actively tried to murder in cold blood.

"She's fine," Lee said, folding his arms.

"Fine, huh. Well just fuck you, Lee Everett." Lee turned his head away, then flicked his eyes back. "That's right. I know who you are and I know you're a killer. And if you go near my daughter or step out of line ONCE and so will everyone else."

Larry closed the gap between them. Lee unfolded his arms and looked at him straight. "I know who you are. And I don't give a shit about what happens to you. But if anything happens to my daughter or that little girl you've got with you, heh, you watch your ass." Larry walked past him, bumping his shoulder intentionally.

"Hey, Lee; do you have a second," Lilly asked.

Lee looked back at Larry, who was looking back. He said nothing but fixed Lee with a glare. He looked back at that hateful man's daughter.

"My dad would be dead if it weren't for you."

"He certainly has a weird way of showing gratitude," Lee said.

"That's just who he is."

"So he kills people he doesn't like?" Lee asked.

"What do you mean?" Lilly asked.

"He tried to kill me back at the drugstore," Lee explained. "He would've if Kenny hadn't shown up."

"What happened?"

"He knocked me down and left me for dead."

"I'm sure it was just an accident," Lilly said.

"Yeah," Lee answered, sarcastically. "I'm sure."

"Why would you assume it wasn't?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't you?" he asked.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Lilly demanded.

"Because when I first met him, the first thing he did was taunt a ten-year-old boy who he assumed was bitten just based on his appearance. It wasn't enough for him to kill the kid, he had to mock his family."

"Well... but... Okay, fine. I can see why you'd think him to be an asshole. But underneath, he's really not a bad guy." Lilly looked over Lee's shoulder at her father.

Lee grunted. "Oh, I'll bet."

The entire group paused from their activities and looked into the sky, as some kind of drumbeat cracked the skyline. "I hope that's the sound of us winning this thing," Kenny said. He walked over to Lilly and Lee.

"Me, too," Lilly agreed.

"This motor inn's pretty damn defendable. We block off the entrances with some cars and keep someone on watch. We could stay here until the military rolls through."

"I actually agree with that plan, Kenny," Lilly noted.

"Me, too," Lee chimed in.

"We've got beds, we've got water and most importantly, we've got light. There are worse places to call home," Kenny said.

"Yeah, you're right," Lilly said. "You know guys, I think it's going to be okay."

Suddenly, all the lights- lampposts, room lamps, the motel sign kept powered up to lure in motorcyclists and tourists who were looking to get to Macon- went out, one by one.


	2. Starved For Help

**The following chapter selectively observes the viewpoints of the following characters: Lee.**

**Please note where the perspective shifts from one character to another, as the perspective changes will not be specifically listed.**

* * *

><p>A walker dropped down to its knees and reached its hands into the dirt. It grabbed something out of it, lifted it up to its face, and ate it raw.<p>

Lee Everett snuck up upon the zombie through the tall grass and underbrush behind it. He stood up, fire axe in hand, and chopped down into the walker's head. Its motions stopped forever. Lee separated its head from axe with his foot.

"Dammit," Mark said. He crouched down to inspect the two corpses, resting the stock of his hunting rifle against the ground and keeping his hand on the barrel. The man's glasses slid forward as he leaned over the walker to see what else lay before him. "What'd they get this time?"

"Looks like a rabbit," Lee observed.

"Well, that's another meal lost." Mark stood up, and Lee led him through the forest to continue their hunting for food. That was how it had been for the past two months, ever since they had found Mark at the Warner Robbins Air Force Base, pinned beneath a service truck that had crashed. Nobody had ever asked how Mark had gotten trapped under the truck, but that was because it really didn't matter.

The hunting was a routine process performed by Kenny, Mark and Lee every two days. If the three returned empty-handed, they would go out the next day to look for food again. If they found nothing that day, they would scavenge Macon instead. Recently, most hunting trips forced them to return empty-handed. Lilly usually admonished them for that, though she herself had no experience in hunting, so she never went out herself.

Kenny wasn't with them at the moment; they had agreed that Kenny would scout for buildings or shacks in the woods the week before.

Since then, they had gone five days in a row without profit from hunting.

"I still can't believe we went through all that commissary food in three months!" Mark said. "It seemed like so much at the time."

"Maybe you shouldn't have opened the door," Lee commented.

"Yeah," Mark said, "except then I'd probably _be_ food by now. Trust me, I have no regrets."

"A rabbit's hardly a meal, Mark, but... I'd take it. We're all hungry."

"No kidding," Mark remarked. Lee accidentally stepped on a twig, causing a small critter to flee from a nearby bush. Mark raised his rifle too late; the chipmunk was already gone. "When I accidentally grabbed for Carley's rations the other night, I thought she was gonna take off my hand!"

"We're all on edge. Just cut her some slack." Lee hefted his axe in both hands.

"Yeah, you're right. I wish I knew for sure how much food we have left."

"You'll have to ask Lilly," Lee answered. "She's the one handling the rations."

"Or mishandling it, if you ask Kenny."

"He's just worried about his kid getting enough," Lee said. "I worry about Clementine, too."

"You think Kenny's having any more luck than we are out here?"

"I sure hope so," Lee answered.

"Yeah, between the lack of food and Kenny and Lilly fighting all the time," Mark said, "things are getting pretty tense back at the Motor Inn. You know Kenny's been talking about taking off if he can get that RV running." A bird cawed somewhere nearby.

Both of them froze. The prospect of a meal being close by motivated them to be still. _Yesterday was a failed hunting day_, Lee thought. _I really, _really_ don't want to go back to Macon tomorrow._

"Kenny won't abandon us," Lee assured. "He's a good man."

"I guess we'll see," Mark said. "Can't blame him, though- hey, did you hear Larry going off on him last night? What's the old guy's deal, anyway? Seems like he's got a problem with you in particular."

"Larry's trying to look out for his daughter," Lee theorized. "Still, there's no need for him to be such a bastard all of the time. I know that if I were in his position, I wouldn't treat everyone else like shit." And I have been in that situation before, Lee added silently.

"Hey, I know Lilly," Mark said. "She can take care of herself. He needs to take that energy and put it towards finding us some more food. And I know Lilly thinks he's getting weaker, but the guy's all muscle'. He's a walking piledriver. I know I wouldn't want to be stuck in a locked room with him. And didn't he punch you in the face one time?"

"Knocked me flat," Lee groaned.

A crow passed by and landed on a tree. To replace the infected rabbit, Mark decided to shoot it down with his rifle. Both of them crouched behind a sizable rock on the ground. "Don't," Lee whispered. Just because he didn't want Mark to shoot it didn't mean he didn't want to cook it tonight. "Gunshot'll bring walkers. One bird's not worth it."

"Yeah, I know..." He lowered his rifle and adjusted his glasses. "I'm just... really frickin' hungry."

A scream sounded out somewhere nearby. "Shit! Was that Kenny?!" Mark said, surprised.

"I don't know," Lee said. "Come on!" They ran toward the source of the scream. After several frightful seconds pervaded by even louder screams, sharp turns through the trees, and readying their weapons for the possibility of walkers; they found a man caught in a bear trap by the leg, and two teenage boys in high school uniform jackets huddled around him.

"Jesus Christ," Mark whispered to Lee.

The two people heard that whisper, however, and turned towards Mark and Lee. "Oh, shit!" One of them said. "No, no... Please don't kill us! We just want to help our teacher! We'll leave, I swear."

"Lee," Kenny said, appearing out of nowhere, clutching a hunting rifle in his hand. It looked like he had heard the screams, too, and had thought them to be from one of his friends. "You guys okay?"

"Get it off! Get it off, Goddammit, get it off me!" the man in the bear trap pleaded.

"Travis," one of the boys said, "maybe they can help."

"These might be the same guys that raided our camp and... We barely got away from that!" Travis countered his friend.

"What guys?" Mark questioned.

"Why the fuck is there a bear trap out here?" Kenny asked to no one in particular.

"W... I don't know man," Travis said.

"What the hell happened?" Lee threw out.

"Mr. Parker said we were supposed to stay off of the streets," the other boy said. "We were trying to be careful, but-" he was cut off by another grunt of pain from Mr. Parker.

"Lee," Mark said from the side. "This is fucked up. We've gotta help 'em."

"PLEASE!" the teenager pled.

"Ben, shut up," Travis ordered. "My dad was Special Forces. I know what I'm doing."

"Just see if you can get him out!" Ben yelled, ignoring his friend's disapproving stare. "After that, you can leave us or whatever, I don't care! Please!"

"Was he bitten?" Lee asked.

"Bitten?" Ben asked back. "No! I swear!"

Lee walked over to Mr. Parker, lying pain on the ground. Fire axe in hand, he knelt down before the bear trap. "Hurry," the man said, "please hurry." He sat up to reach for his leg.

"Lee," Mark said from behind. "This trap's been altered." He knelt down himself. "There's no release latch."

Mark and Lee both inspected the leg. The red animal trap was covered in blood, though that wouldn't help them slip the leg through. The trap was chained to a tree, so they couldn't just pick him up and run.

"Oh, no," said Travis. Lee looked in his direction and noticed a dozen zombies approaching from the tree line.

"Shit!" Kenny said, voicing Lee's thoughts. "Walkers! It's now or never, Lee."

"Please," Mr. Parker cried out. "Get me out of this!"

"Mark, get the boys back!" Lee commanded. Mark pulled Travis by his arm to stand him next to Ben. He then adopted a protective stance with the boys behind him. "Kenny, keep those walkers off of me!" Kenny stepped in front of Lee, and Mark took position next to Kenny. They raised their guns, poised to fire.

"Do you think you can get it open?" Travis asked. One bullet.

"Lee," Mark said, "we gotta do something."

"This is bad," Travis said. "This is very bad."

Lee grabbed a nearby branch to open the crevice of the bear trap, but the branch broke after contact with the red metal. "Goddammit!"

"Try to cut the chain," Travis suggested. Another bullet.

"Hurry!" Parker yelled. Another.

"Oh, god, he can't die," Ben said. "Oh, god, please save him!"

Lee swung down at the chain with the axe. "Come on," Parker said. "Try something!"

Lee swung down at the chain again. "Lee!" Mark yelled. "It has to be NOW!"

"There's gotta be another way," Parker said.

"Is there any way to help him?" Ben asked at the same time. Lee swung down at the chain a third time.

Finally, Mark stopped Lee from further swinging at the chain. "Forget it! We use those same kinds of chains back at the air force base to lift ordinance. You're not cutting through that." He faced the walkers again and fired at one. The walker he fired at dropped to the ground, but still reached its hands out for them. The bullet had hit its knee.

"I want my leg! I want my leg! Oh, god!" Parker pleaded.

"Oh, please!" Ben begged. "We can't just leave him like this!" Kenny fired. One walker dropped, and it did not continue struggling.

"Dammit, Lee," Mark yelled in desperation. "Just cut off his fucking leg!"

"We don't have time for this," Kenny said. "We gotta move! I'm sorry. We have to go!"

"You have to get him out," Travis said. "You have to!"

Lee picked up a heavy stone and tried breaking the chain a fourth time. It still didn't break.

"Jesus," Parker said, "I need to walk!"

"Lee, I can't keep them back forever." Kenny and Mark were wasting bullets at that point. They couldn't keep shooting for long.

"Oh, god," Travis said, "there's so many of them." The walkers drew closer to the group, despite Kenny and Mark's constant shooting. They were running out of time.

Parker and Ben begged repeatedly. The chain was indestructible, the bear trap got Parker in a tight spot, and the chain wasn't working. There was only one option:

Lee stood up. "I'm gonna have to cut you out!" Another shot emphasized his statement.

"NO, NO, NO! Try the trap again! Anything, please!" Parker was afraid of this idea.

Lee hefted the axe above his head and plunged it into the teacher's leg. Parker screamed in pain. After one more cut to the leg, it was showing the bone and spewing blood. It was ugly for everyone, but extremely painful for Parker. Kenny grabbed Lee's arm before he could finish shearing through the leg.

"Come on! We gotta go," Kenny said. "There's no time."

"NO, no! Don't leave me!" Parker yelled, desperate.

"Dammit, Lee," Mark said. He clearly did not want to leave the man in the woods to be eaten by walkers.

"I'm sorry," Lee said, full of regret.

Travis walked closer to them. "No! We can't leave Mr. Parker like that! Give me the gun! Give me the gun!" He tried grabbing Mark's rifle. Instead of taking the gun, Mark accidentally gave him the bullet to the chest. "... Oh god." Travis dropped to the ground.

Kenny ran over. "Shit! What happened?!"

"He went for the gun!" Lee yelled.

"Oh god!" Ben said. The horde of the undead was getting closer.

"Grab the kid and keep moving!" Kenny suggested.

Mark lifted Travis onto his shoulders and carried him off to attempt to escape."You can't leave me like this. Please get me out!" Mr. Parker begged. Lee led the way back to camp, Mark slowly trailing the group with the added weight on his shoulders. Everyone shuddered as they heard Parker's last screams.

Lee ran back into view of the Motor Inn within moments. Lilly had a gun pointed at him from atop an RV since she was guarding the gate. "Get the gates open!" Lee screamed. "We've got wounded!" Although he couldn't hear her, he could see the scowl on her face from there.

Lee pushed a dumpster inwards to allow Mark and Kenny to get through, Ben running in before them. Everyone in the group crowded the entrance.

"Where should I put him?" Mark asked. Katjaa said to put him on the truck.

"Who the hell are these people?" Larry yelled in outrage.

"What's happening?" Duck asked.

"What's going on?" Carley asked as well.

Mark finally set down Travis onto his back in the trunk of the pickup truck. He then lifted up his legs and pushed his whole body into it.

"I don't have time to explain," Lee answered.

"Lee," Clementine asked through the commotion, "are you okay?"

"Kat," Kenny asked, "can you fix him?"

"Jesus, Ken, I... I..."

"LEE! Lee!" Lilly yelled. Everyone silenced: the lion had arrived and she was angry. "What the hell?! You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?!"

"Hey, you want to calm down for a fucking minute?" Kenny suggested to Lilly.

Larry looked like he was about to yell, but Lilly cut him off. "No, I don't! I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea!"

"We're the ones that shot him," Lee answered.

"Then you should have done the right thing and finished him off," Larry scolded.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kenny asked Larry like the older man was stupid.

"Well, hang on!" Carley said. "We haven't talked to these people yet! Maybe they can helpful!"

"Come on, Lilly. These are people!" Mark said. "People trying to survive just like us. We've got to stick together to survive."

"The only reason you're here, Mark, is because you had food. Enough for all of us. But that food is almost gone, we've got maybe a week's worth left, and I don't suppose you guys are carrying any groceries, are you?!"

"Um... No." Although it was a simple statement of fact, Ben answered with such hesitancy that it sounded like a question.

"Fine," Mark said. "You guys fight it out, then. Welcome to the family, kid."

Clementine tried to get Ben out of harm's way. "Come over here and see what I drew."

"What? No, I..."

"Just come on, okay?"

"You know," Kenny argued, "you like to think you're the leader of this little group, but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't you're own personal dictatorship!"

"Oh, come on," Carley butted in. "You're being dramatic." Kenny and Lilly glared at her. _Don't interrupt our fight, _their postures indicated. "Everything always turns into a power struggle between you two. I'm not gonna be a part of that." Carley walked away.

"Hey," Lilly said, back to Kenny, "I didn't ask to lead this group! Everyone was happy to have me distributing the food when there was enough to go around, but now that it's running out, suddenly I'm a goddamn Nazi!"

"Kenny's right," Lee said, now in the argument. "Yeah, you're in charge of the food, and the schedules, but you're _not_ in charge of people's lives."

"Really?" Lilly asked Lee.

"You weren't there and Lee made a choice. End of story." Kenny explained briefly. He and Duck walked away. Duck tried to hold Kenny's hand as he walked, but Kenny couldn't spare either hand from his rifle.

"Look," Lee said, "once Katjaa patches that guy up, you can kick them out of here... Send 'em out their own, I couldn't care less. But they at least deserve a fighting chance against the walkers." Lilly folded her arms, clearly displeasured at being ordered around. "And for the record, Kenny wanted to leave those people behind!"

"If Kenny were to pull his head out of his ass for five seconds, he'd realize that I make these decisions to protect HIS family! We simply don't have enough food!"

"I don't see any of you stepping up to make the hard decisions!" Larry yelled. "My girl's got more balls than all of you combined!" Lee shied back from that, though not in fear.

"Dad, please," Lilly said, "why don't you go help Mark with the wall?" Larry walked away, but Lilly continued her argument with Lee. "You know what? If you think I'm doing such a shitty job, then you do it!" She walked back over to the RV, more specifically a backpack leaning against it. She picked up a couple of snacks. Those snacks were all that they had been eating recently. "That's _all_ the food we have for today. You decide who gets to eat!" Lee was about to object. "No, I'm serious! Pick up this food and start handing it out. You see how it feels to not have enough food for everyone!" Lilly left to go back up onto her lookout position, but not until after shoving the food items into Lee's palms.

Lee looked down at the food in his hands. Two cracker packs, half an apple, and a piece of jerky. Lee looked up. Everyone but Katjaa was looking at him. They all turned away after a few tense moments, all of them either smart enough to realize not to start crowding him or too distracted to bother.

Lee walked over to Katjaa, who was tending to Travis's wounds. "Is he gonna be okay?" Lee wondered aloud.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "Can you give me a hand real quick?"

"Sure," Lee said. "What do you need?"

She turned back to Travis. "Just apply some pressure here while I tried to close this up..." He placed his hands upon Travis's bloodstained ribcage. "You know, I thought I was starting to get used to this... sewing up people's injuries... What were you thinking in bringing him in here? Even if he lives, we aren't going to be able to take care of him."

"I did the right thing," Lee stated quietly. Even if she didn't hear it, there was a high level of intensity behind those words.

"Yeah..." Katjaa replied. "I know ya did... The right thing is just scary sometimes I guess."

Lee's shoulders sagged. "I know."

"Well, you've done all you can, Lee. Thanks for the help. Go ahead and check in on the others. I need a little space here anyway."

Lee pulled out the apple to give to her. _Maybe_ _I should have given out the food before touching his bloodied clothes,_ he thought humorously. "Here, eat something."

Katjaa looked at Lee and sighed. "Why don't you give it to Duck? I'm a little busy with your mess right now." She turned back to her work. "I need space Lee," the veterinarian said apologetically.

Lee left to talk to Kenny. Clementine stood up when he drew near, and walked over to him. "How ya doing, Clementine?" He began.

"Okay," she replied.

"Where's your hat?"

"I don't know. Can you help me find it?" she asked politely.

"Sure," he promised the small girl. "When did you lose it?"

"I had it a couple days ago."

"I promise if I find it, I'll let you know."

"Thank you," Clementine said.

"Okay, Clem. I've got to take care of some things. Why don't you go back to playing with Duck for a while?"

"Okay." She sat down and started drawing again.

Lee left to find Kenny sitting down on a couch beneath a makeshift pavilion, clutching a pipe in his hands to be used as a weapon. "Word's getting out that you wanna leave the motor inn."

"That ain't no secret, Lee," Kenny said. "It's probably our best bet."

Lee closed his eyes and turned his head. "Look," Kenny said. Lee opened his eyes and found Kenny standing up before him. "You've been good to me and my family. You saved Duck from those monsters, and ya stood up to Larry at the drugstore. I won't forget that. You and Clem are welcome to come with us."

"The coast does sound like a smart idea," Lee remarked. "Maybe that is the best thing."

"I know that it is. I'm taking my family." Kenny sat back down.

Lee held out half of an apple. "Here, Kenny. Take this."

"How about my boy? He eat yet?" Kenny inquired.

Lee sighed. "No."

"Come talk to me once my boy's been taken care of."

"Yeah," Lee said. "I'd feel the same way about Tyler."

"Tyler's your son, right? You think he's okay?"

Lee looked down. "I don't know."

"Hey," Kenny tried. "Maybe he'll find us, and we'll have a new guy in our group."

"Speaking of which," Lee said, changing the subject. "Lilly has a point about these new people being extra mouths to feed."

"I know, but... maybe the problem isn't that there isn't any food, there just isn't any here! We've gotta think about moving on."

"Let's hope things turn for the better," Lee commented. "Soon."

"Now there's a statement I can get behind." Kenny sat back and looked down at the pipe.

Lee turned and walked over to Carley. He stood in front of Carley, who was sitting down and watching the kids draw. She was shaking and had trouble keeping her eyes open. "Sleeping any better?" he asked her.

"No," Carley said tiredly. "I know we should be grateful for beds, but no. I'm not."

Lee just stood there for a moment. "Drugstore?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"Lilly has me handing out the food," Lee said, changing the subject.

Carley groaned. Clementine looked up at her for a moment, then turned back to her coloring. "That can't be an easy job."

"It's not. I won't be able to feed everyone. What should I do?"

"Well," Carley started. "If you wanted to get in good with Lilly, I'd make sure Larry gets some food, even though the guy can be a real dick sometimes.

"On the other hand, giving that food to Kenny and his family might make him remember you if he decides to take off in RV one day."

"What about you?" Lee asked. "You need food too."

"We ALL need food. I can't tell you what to do. But whatever happens, I know you'll be trying to do the right thing."

"Thanks, Carley. Want something to eat?" He pulled out the jerky. "Here."

"Me?" she asked. "How about you? You look like crap, Lee. When was the last time you ate?"

"I'm okay."

"I want you to have this, okay? In case you or Clementine starts feeling weak." Lee looked at Clementine and nodded. "I know I said it didn't matter why you saved me instead of Doug, but..."

"You don't owe me anything, Carley," Lee said.

She looked away. The implication was clear: better to forget about Doug. Lee walked away. He found Ben sitting with Clementine.

He looked up at Lee. "Hey, is my friend gonna make it?"

"I don't know, but Katjaa will do her best. I promise."

"I can't believe we just left Mr. Parker there..." Ben trailed off.

"I tried. I really did. I just... we ran out of time. There was nothing else we could do." Ben looked down. "So, who are you people? Our group's gonna want to know."

"I'm Ben. Ben Paul. The guy in the truck is Travis. He played in the school band with me. Mr. Parker was the band director but- God, I can't believe we left him."

"How are you holding up, kid?" Lee asked.

"Uh, well, I, uh... I keep wondering if I could have done something to help, you know? Some kind of... I don't know. SOMETHING."

"I'm sure you did all you could," Lee consoled.

"Yeah, maybe," Ben replied.

"Relax," the former history professor said. "We'll get your friend back to normal in no time."

"I sure hope so."

Lee walked away, pointedly ignoring Lilly, and found Larry and Mark working on the wall. _It keeps the walkers out,_ Lee thought. _Carley's been doing the bulk of the lookout duty. _

"Will you hold the damn boards steady?" Larry questioned loudly.

"I'm sorry," Mark apologized, nearly stuttering. "I'm trying. I didn't realize I was getting this weak already."

"What do you want? A hand out? I've got sixty cents in my pocket if you'll shut up and quit being such a pansy."

Lee got closer. "Need any help with the wall?"

"Nope," Larry responded curtly.

"Actually, we could use your axe," Mark said. "You mind if we take it?"

"Yeah, give us that thing for a bit," Larry agreed with a toothy grin.

Lee narrowed his eyes at Larry. _Now you want something, Larry?_ He held out the fire axe that had once been property of the motel.

"Here, Mark. This should help."

Mark took the axe. "Thanks."

"Hey, I'm the one doing all the work over here. You didn't think to give me the axe?" Larry glared at Lee. The toothy grin no longer existed.

"Come on, Larry," Mark defended. "Cut Lee some slack. He knows you're just out to protect Lilly, he told me so. Just like he's trying to protect Clementine and how he'd protect Tyler."

"HE-" Larry sighed, defeated, and turned back to the wall. "I just need some food. Going this long without a proper meal will make anybody cranky."

Lee smiled. _You won't win every argument, old man._ "Here, Larry." Lee held up some crackers and cheese. "Lilly would want you to keep your strength up."

"Well you can't do that off of crackers," Larry grumbled. He accepted the food anyway.

Lee turned to Mark. "Here, eat something." He held out some jerky.

Mark took it. "Thanks, Lee." Lee nodded, and the ex-soldier turned back to the wall.

Lee went over to the kids. "How are ya doing, Duck?" Lee asked Ken Junior.

"I'm okay," the ten-year-old said. "Me and Clementine are coloring."

Clementine held up her drawing to Ben. "Guess what it is."

"I don't know... a dog?" Ben replied.

"Nope," the girl giggled.

"Oh, I know!" Duck called out. "It's a goat, right?"

"No." Clementine shook her head vigorously.

"Hey Duck," Lee said. "How about a little food?" Katjaa's son turned to Lee and smiled. "Here," Lee said, holding out the last cracker pack.

"Yeah! Oh, man. I'm so hungry."

Lee then knelt down to Clementine. "Here, Clem. You need something to eat." He held out the apple slice.

She accepted it gratefully. "I love apples. Thank you. Are there more?"

"No, honey. That was the last one."

"Oh," Clem said. "Um..."

"Enjoy it," Lee said. "You deserve it." Clementine looked back to her drawing, setting the apple down on the pallet next to her. Hopefully, Ben would have the good sense not to steal it. Lee stood up to talk to Lilly. He nodded to her.

"Not such an easy job, was it?" Lilly asked.

"Never said it was," Lee responded, looking at the children. "I don't envy you. I don't know how you have the strength to do this every day."

She chuckled a bit. "I don't have a choice."

Kenny walked over, still holding the pipe. "Lee-" Kenny began.

"Kenny, I know I ran out of food before-"

"Hey, it was a tough choice," Kenny said. "But you took care of the kids. That's what a real man does." Kenny paused to look at Lilly, who didn't look back at him. "I'm serious about that offer to come with us. You've more than earned a ride on the RV with me. Still," Kenny took on a more somber tone, "I guess some people aren't gonna be happy with your choices."

"Ken! Lee!" Katjaa's voice rang out. "Come here, please."

They both walked over to her. Katjaa's hands were soaked with blood. "He didn't make it, did he?" Kenny asked.

"He lost too much blood," Katjaa said.

"Goddammit," Kenny said. He turned around and walked back around the side of the RV. "I'm getting sick of this shit." He threw the pipe against the ground. The pipe bounced and clattered against the RV, denting the metal surface.

"Ken, come back, just..." Katjaa said.

"What's his problem?" Lee asked.

"Dont be like that, Lee. I know we've all seen death. But that doesn't make it any easier." Lee looked back at Clementine. "That man you brought... I tried, but he was never going to survive."

"Well," Lee said, "at least he's not our problem anymore."

"What about the other kid?" Katjaa asked.

"Lilly wants him gone," Lee said, or would have said, at least, if a rotten hand hadn't grabbed Katjaa from behind and pulled her towards the truck. Lee ran to the truck bed, actually saying "Shit! Katjaa!"

Lee placed both hands on each of their heads; the back of Katjaa's and the forehead of the reanimated Travis. Lee pulled them apart and managed to push Katjaa away and Travis back into the truck. "The axe! Hurry!" He shouted to Mark. Hands grabbed him by the shoulder and he fell into the truck bed.

Lee turned around and positioned his hands into the walker's shoulders. He shoved it to the left, bashing its head into the side of the truck, which lightly dug into its head. He lifted it back up into the middle and slammed it down to the left again. He did so a third time, and part of its right eye was bloody now.

Mark appeared with the axe on Lee's right. "Move! MOVE!" he ordered. Lee pushed the zombie back into the truck. Mark swung the axe, but missed as the zombie slouched down against the truck. Instead of the walker's brain, Mark destroyed the back window. "Shit! It's stuck."

Travis rose to his knees and tried mounting Lee, but he held the zombie back with his left foot. Using his ankle power, Lee pushed the boy back, but it flopped down in front of his left foot and grasped it.

Lee kicked its face in twice. On the second kick, it fell back into the broken window pad, though Mark still hadn't pried the axe free. Lee crawled backwards to get away, but fell out of the truck onto his shoulder. Travis fell face first into Lee.

Lee defensively put his hands up, right into Travis's face, his thumbs in the zombie's eyes. He pushed it back as best as he could, blood pouring into Lee's thumbs from his eyes. Lee looked to the right and noticed Carley with a pistol. "Shoot it!" he shouted. Carley complied, disturbing the moans from the now dead Travis. The walker stopped struggling.

Lee tossed the walker to his left, a bullet hole in the back of its head. Carley crouched down next to Lee, hands on his chest. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he panted calmly. "Thanks."

Larry stood over Carley's shoulder, angrily looking at Lee. "Why'd ya bring him here in the first place, asshole?!"

Lilly appeared to stop the argument. "Dad, calm down," she said with a hand on his shoulder.

"You're gonna get us ALL killed!" he yelled at Lee.

Kenny hugged his wife, glad to see her without injury. Then, he let go of his wife and turned to Ben, and called attention to him by saying "YOU said he wasn't bitten!"

"What?" Ben asked.

"We asked you, point blank, 'Was he bitten?' and you said 'No.'" Lee thought about raising the point that Lee had asked if Parker was bitten, but discarded it. It wasn't like it really mattered who they had asked about; they should have been told immediately that they had a bite victim.

"He wasn't!" Ben asserted defensively.

"Well your 'not-bitten' friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!" Kenny yelled.

"What?!" Ben asked. Then he took on a quieter tone. "Wait, y'all don't know?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kenny demanded.

Ben's shoulders dropped and he looked around at the whole group. "It's not the bite that does it!" Ben revealed. "You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us."

"We're all infected?" Lee asked, shocked. "Everyone?"

"I- I guess so," Ben replied. "I don't know... All I know is that I've seen people turn who I KNOW were never bitten." Ben looked at the whole group in turn. "When I first saw it happen, we were all hiding out in the gym and everyone thought we were finally safe. But one of the girls, Jenny Pitcher I think, I guess she couldn't take it. She took some pills. A lot of them. Someone went in the girls' room the next morning and... God..."

No one could speak. Lilly, Mark, Kenny and Lee all looked down. The kids were still looking at Ben, Katjaa looking at them, sorry that they had to hear that, and Larry was looking at Lilly, understanding the serious danger they had always been in.

In that moment, Lee lost any hope for a possible late rescue by the remnants of the government.

"Back off!" Carley bellowed. Everyone turned to her. At first, Lee thought she was talking to Ben, but he saw her at the wall, holding a pair of men at gunpoint. One of them held a jerry can.

"Woah, lady, relax!" the one with the jerry can said. "Me and my brother, we... we just want to know if y'all can help us out."

"I said 'back off!'"

Lilly walked up behind her. "... Carley..." she said, implying that the use of force against her was not out of the question if she didn't lower her gun. She didn't.

"Are you armed?" Lee called out.

"Yeah..." the one without the can said. "For protection. Dead could be anywhere."

"But, uh, I think you've got the upper hand here," the other brother said.

"Why do you need gas?" Carley asked, gun not wavering the slightest.

"Our place is protected by an electric fence," said the younger brother. "Generators provide electricity."

"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road," said the older brother. "If y'all be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade." Lee took note of how humorous he was trying to make it sound. _Has he done this before?_ Lee wondered.

"How're y'all doing on food?" the younger man asked. "We've got plenty at the dairy.

"Lee," Lilly said from the side. "Why don't you and Mark check the place out? See if it's legit."

"I'm going with you," Carley insisted. She lowered her gun and put it in her waistband. "I've got your back if anything seems fishy."

"So," the man holding the jerry can asked. "What're y'all thinking?"

"I think we'll stay here," Lee decided. "We're starting to develop a good vibe here at the motel."

"'Good vibe?'" Larry scolded. "Well, Christ daddy-o, I'm sorry the folks with a food supply and DEFENSES didn't tickle your pretty punk ass."

"We need to think like a GROUP, Lee. This affects everyone," Mark spoke up.

"Then we vote," Lilly suggested. "If everyone agrees then we'll send you guys with some gas to check the place out."

"And if we don't?" Kenny asked.

"Then we'll stay in this wretched roach motel with your recreational paperweight over there. Plus we stay close to Macon where we have access to the pharmacy, for Dad." She looked at the adults from Florida. "Kenny? Katjaa?"

They looked at each other. "We go," Kenny said.

"Dad?"

"You betcha, 'punkin.'"

"Carley?"

"I say we go."

"I'm in," Mark informed. "If they are offering food, we gotta at least check it out."

Lee looked at the youngest of the group. "Clementine, what do you think?"

"Lee... I'm very hungry." She looked down, ashamed to have gone against Lee's wishes.

_We're starved for help, anyway._ "All right," Lee said. He looked back at Lilly. "Looks like we're going to a dairy." He went over to the gate, opened it, and allowed the anointed group to go through: him, Mark, Carley and Ben, who joined because he was afraid of more questioning at the motel. They went out, Lee grabbed the jerry can, returned inside, filled up the can with gasoline and brought it back to the brothers. Kenny closed the gate behind them as they left with the brothers.

* * *

><p>About two miles away from the motel, Carley hung back from the rest of the group, so Lee lagged behind to talk to her. He wasn't too sure if she was awake enough to continue on, so anything to keep her on her feet was a good thing.<p>

"It's nice to get away from the motel for a while," Carley said. "This Lilly/Kenny thing is starting to get ridiculous. Personally, I'd be happier if you were to take charge more."

"You think they'd want me for a leader?" Lee asked.

"Sure," Carley answered. "Everyone looks up to you."

"Well... not everyone thinks I'm so trustworthy."

"Because of your past? Does anyone else know?"

"Larry knows."

"Great," Carley said. "That can't be easy."

"Clementine knows. She was there when we were talking in the drug store and asked me about it. I couldn't lie to her."

"What exactly DID happen with the senator?" Carley asked.

"You know what happened..." Lee answered.

"I only know what the press was told," Carley explained. "I don't know your story."

He sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if I should talk to the group about it..."

"You don't have to," Carley said. "Whatever happened before things went to hell doesn't matter anymore."

"Not sure everyone would see it that way."

"Maybe you're right," Carley agreed. "Listen, over the years I've reported on some pretty messed up shit. I've seen situations like yours a hundred times, it doesn't have to make you a bad man..."

Lee paused before speaking. "I really appreciate that."

Mark and Andy were talking about Lee, buzzing about his post apocalyptic actions until Andy switched over to him. "Yeah, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself, Lee?"

"Where are ya from?" Danny asked.

"I grew up in Macon."

"Right in the Heart of Georgia," Andy said, "that's what I like to hear! Y'all seem pretty settled in that motor inn. Who's running things over there?"

"Lilly," Lee answered. "She runs a pretty tight ship. Her and her dad are ex-military."

"Yeah, she knows her shit," Mark said, "but she needs to know when to back off sometimes."

"How many people ya got over there anyway?" Danny asked.

"Nine," Lee answered. "Including the kids."

"You forgot Ben," Carley said. "That makes ten."

"Me?" Ben asked.

"Well," Andy said, "we'd love to get ya all out to the dairy. Like I said, we got plenty of food, and, quite frankly, we could always use an extra helping hand."

"In the summers, I used to help out on the goat farm," Ben said.

"Yeah, that's great," Danny said. "Everything helps!"

"Mama's been running the dairy for as long as I can remember," Andy brought up, "but now it's getting-"

"You think you're gonna cut me out of this?" a voice rang out in the trees.

Andy stopped the group. "Shit, get down," he whispered. They lowered.

"No one is trying to cut you out of anything," someone said. The group came across two people on a trail.

"Those look like the people who raided my camp," Ben whispered.

"Who are they?" Lee whispered back.

"Shh," Andy said. "Fucking assholes they are. Don't worry. Danny and I have ya covered if something happens, let's just wait this out and I hope they move on."

Both bandits were armed. Suddenly, one of them kicked the other bandit and shot him in the chest. That bandit died. The man kept shooting at his body, cursing while at it, not aware that now he has to shoot the head. The living man left while saying, "Asshole."

"The world out here is gone to shit," Andy whispered. "Come on, let's get to the dairy where it safe."

They left the body in the woods, covered in its own blood from several holes in his chest, giving no more than just a casual sigh at the man's passing.

* * *

><p>"Here it is," Andy said. "St. John's family diary. Y'all can see how we've kept this place so safe."<p>

"The fence keeps them out?" Mark asked.

"You betcha. They fry like bugs in a zapper," Andy said. "We're pushing 4000 volts through that thing, with generators and amps. And we're going to assume, that your friend here, uh, Lee here, is silently impressed."

"This place looks untouched!" Carley commented. "You'd never know the rest of the world is in ruins."

"It's worth protecting, hence all the juice," Andy explained.

"I thought I saw y'all with company comin' down the drive!" someone one said. It was an old woman coming from the hill. "I'm Brenda St. John and welcome to the St. John's diary."

"This is Lee," Andy informed. "He's from Macon."

"A couple of our old farmhands were from Macon. They grow 'em good there."

"They've got a few more friends staying at the old motel," Danny said.

"Oh my goodness, that place is pretty vulnerable," Brenda remarked. "Have you got someone with survival experience to lead your group?"

"I've got things under control over there," Lee responded.

"Well, I hope you know what you're doing. That place isn't safe like it is here. Well, it don't matter. You're here now. We'll make sure you're safe and comfortable."

"Thanks for having us," Lee thanked. "We brought some gasoline on good faith."

"We're all incredibly hungry," Carley stated.

"These are for y'all. Baked fresh this morning." Brenda handed a basket to Carley.

"Amazing," she commented as she accepted the basket. Lee inspected it and found about two dozen biscuits.

"Can't get stuff like that anymore, not without a cow for milk and butter, that's for sure," Danny pointed out.

"That's right. Hopefully Maybelle will make it through this bout of whatever she's got and be with us for a good-long while."

"Your cow is sick?" Lee asked. "What's she-"

"We have a vet!" Mark chimed in. "We could bring her here. We can help you folks out."

"A vet! Oh my! Our prayers have been answered!"

"Maybe our whole GROUP could come... for the day..." Mark suggested.

"Well, how about this? Y'all go get your veterinary friend, and I'll prepare some dinner. A big feast for all you hungry souls. It'll be nice to have some folks to help out around here again. Danny, why don't you come help me out in the kitchen?" She and her younger son walked back to the house.

"Why don't I head back with the food and round up everyone for the trip back here," Carley said.

"You might wanna take someone with you. Remember, those roads can be dangerous," Andy said.

"I can handle myself."

"Take this," Mark said, handing her a rifle. "Why don't you go ahead and take Ben along anyway?"

"Take care of yourself, Lee," Carley told him. "See ya in a while." She and Ben left the farm.

"Mark, Lee," Andy spoke, "why don't ya take a look around. Once ya get settled in, I could use some help securin' the perimeter."

"Is there a problem?" Lee asked.

"Sometimes, the dead get tangled up in the fence before they fry and end up knocking over a post. It'd be a big help if the two of you could walk the perimeter.

"You can learn a little something about our fence. I'm gonna go top off the generators before they run dry. Come get me when you're ready."

"You betcha," Mark said to Andy as the latter left. "This place is _incredible_!" Mark said to Lee. "It's got food! And that fence... oh man that _fence_! If we play our cards right, this might turn out to be a place we can stay. So how do you want to play this?"

"Before we can think about bringing our whole group here to stay," Lee answered, "we need to figure if this place is as safe as they're telling us."

"Right," Mark sadly said. "Obviously THEY think it's safe, but is it safe enough for the kids? I noticed a broken swing over there. Not a big deal, but maybe there's other things not working that we just can't see yet."

"And checking the fence perimeter sounds like a decent way to get a good look at their defenses."

"All right," Mark said. "I'll keep my eyes open, and you find out what you can from Andy."

Mark left to go stand by the mailbox. Lee walked in over to any, who was working on filling the generator with gasoline. "Hi," Andy said, standing.

"Hi," Lee returned.

"I'm glad you guys decided to help us out." He smiled. "I noticed back at the motel you folks are pretty well armed. You been stockpiling, huh?"

"We've scraped together a good supply in the last few months. How about yourselves? What kind of protection do you have around here?"

"We've collected a few guns to protect ourselves," he admitted. "But we really only use 'em when we go off the property. When we're inside the perimeter, the fence is all we need to keep us safe."

"We can't be the first people you've invited up to the dairy," Lee said to change the subject and avoid suspicion.

"Well, no," Andy conduced. "We've made similar deals with other folks, trading for gas and food, but ultimately they moved on, looking for the people they lost contact with.

"Take this one kid, for example. He showed up asked for directions to West Central Prison, then, suddenly, he was gone."

Lee felt a chill. West Central Prison was where he was supposed to be serving his life sentence. _Tyler_...

"Did you give him directions?" Lee asked, hoping the anxiety in his voice would be cancelled out by his curiosity.

"Unfortunately, no. I don't know where this prison is nor if it even exists. He might have just been one of those crazy fellas, running to someplace they think is safe."

"What did you mean by 'kid?'" Lee pressed.

"A younger fella, probably no older than thirteen. Traveling all by himself."

"When did he show up?"

"About two weeks ago," Andy said. "Why?"

"That might have been my son," Lee spoke, barely a whisper.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He sounded regretful for something other than asking a question like that.

"Well," Lee said, "I'm gonna get to know the place for a minute."

"Okay. Well, we gotta secure the perimeter so don't take too long." He knelt back down to the generator, possibly to hide the look of embarrassment on his face. Lee left Andy alone. _Tyler_...

Lee pushed the thought out of his mind, taking it for granted that it probably wasn't Tyler, maybe just like Andy had said, some crazy kid. To distract himself, he went to talk to Mark.

He walked up beside Mark, keeping his back to Andy. "So what have you found out?" Mark asked. "This looking like a good place to stay?"

"Tyler might have been here," Lee found himself saying.

"What?" the ex soldier asked. "How do you know?"

"I don't know, but Andy said that someone came by two weeks ago asking for directions to West Central Prison."

"Why would Tyler try to get to West Central Prison?" Mark asked suspiciously.

Lee paused. "That's what leads me to think it wasn't him, but the guy Andy described matched Tyler's age."

"It probably wasn't him. I'm sure Tyler is with his mom in Virginia, like you said."

Lee shook his head. "I hope so." Lee turned away. "They also have several guns around the farm."

"Good find," Mark complimented. "Why don't you get back to it and keep me posted?"

Lee nodded and went back to Andy. "Hi. Mark and I can help you with that perimeter, now."

"Oh, good. A walker will fry after about three or four seconds, but it can be a problem if we leave the husks out there."

"You know," Lee said, "Mark and I can clear the fence ourselves if you want to stay here and finish up with the generators."

"Well, that would be great!" Andy agreed. "I'll turn off the northwest section, and if you guy could strip 'em off and look for any weak points, that'd be a big help."

"Sounds easy enough," Lee said.

"Stay attentive," Andy warned, "you never know."

Lee and Mark walked away. After walking for a few minutes, they talked while searching the fence, keeping the wired wood on their left.

"So how's the place looking?" Mark asked. "Is it safe enough for us to stay... if we can?"

"Yeah," Lee answered, "it's pretty amazing what they've done with this diary. But let's see what it takes to secure this fence before drawing any conclusions."

"I can't wait until everyone's out here. Everyone besides Larry..."

"He wouldn't be such a pain in the ass if you weren't telling him we were talking behind his back all the time."

"I'm sorry," Mark apologized, "all right?"

"That guy's a piece of shit anyway," Lee murmured, angrily.

"Relax. You're not making things any better riling him up."

They found a dead walker with an arrow wood shaft sticking through its neck and into a post of the fence. Lee questioned Mark about the arrow. "Maybe the St. John's boys were using this guy for target practice?"

"Poor guy," Mark groaned.

"I don't know what got him first, the arrow or the fence. Either way, I hope he was already dead."

Lee pulled the arrow out of its head and pushed it off the fence with his axe. "Come on, I'm sure there's still a few more."

"Once this fence is patched up," Mark said, "this place will be a fortress! God, can you imagine not having to worry about the walkers anymore?"

"A fortress needs people to defend it," Lee said.

"We've got enough people. So, what's your take on the brothers?"

"We've got enough people to take this place by force, if we have to," Lee answered.

"You sound like Kenny," Mark said.

"There is something I don't trust about those guys." He saw another corpse. "There's another one."

"I see it."

This one didn't have an arrow in it, but still died from the shock. Lee knocked it down with his axe and it fell to the ground.

"Ya never do get used to the smell, do ya?" Mark asked.

"Nope," Lee laughed.

They walked away from it. "Christ," Mark said, "I can't stop thinking about dinner. Thanks for the jerky, by the way. It was hard eating it in front of everyone else."

"I'm hungry too, Mark," Lee said. "And you're welcome."

"Do you think they're gonna be good for it? Dinner for a whole group of people?"

"If they've got as much food as they say, I think so." Lee and Mark found a downed section of the fence. "Come on, I think I see where they're getting in. This one must've knocked it over trying to get through. He's tangled up in there pretty good. Come on, help me get this thing back in place so we can get Mr. Crispy off of there."

"I think we'd get better leverage from the other side," Lee observed.

"Good idea," Mark remarked. With that, he hopped over the downed section. He turned around and placed his hands on the underside of the post.

Lee did the same. He pushed the fence up. Suddenly, the fence turned on.

"Holy fuck!" Mark exclaimed. "What just happened?!"

"The fences are on!" Lee answered.

"Why the hell would he turn the fence on? He knows we're out here!"

Then, an arrow entered Mark's right shoulder.

A voice was heard in the forest. Another arrow was shot. "I told you what would happen, you son of a bitch!"

"What the-" Mark said in panic.

"Get to the gate!" Lee ordered. They both ran to the gate, but were halted as an arrow impacted the dirt before them. "What the- GET DOWN!" Lee shouted to Mark, and took cover behind a tractor as more projectiles were fired at them.

"We had an agreement!" one person in the woods accused. "Now you're fucked!"

Mark fell in behind Lee. "Who the fuck is that?!"

"No fucking clue!" Lee exclaimed.

"Fuck! Now what?"

"With the fence on," Lee said, "that gate is our only way out!"

Lee tried pushing the tractor, but it was too heavy for him. He saw that the blades in the back were stuck in the ground. He crawled to the plow lever to raise it. He looked over into the trees. "STOP SHOOTING AT US! WE DON'T KNOW YOU!"

Almost getting his hand shot, he raised the lever and the blades released. He tried again, but it was still immobile. "Shit, something's still blocking it!"

A chock was holding the tire. He put it somewhere behind himself and finally rolled the tractor with Mark's help. "C'mon," Lee ordered, "if we reach the gate, we get through this fence and back to the house."

They used the tractor as a shield until something stopped it again. "It's one of the dead we pushed down earlier," Lee explained. "We're gonna have to move him." He did and they kept moving until the tractor stopped yet again.

"Another one?" Mark asked. "How many did we push down?"

Lee tried doing it again, but the zombie was still active and grabbed Lee's arm. Lee pulled the moving corpse in half, which shocked him. The zombie was still moving, so he threw him to the side. They moved the tractor with the legless body coming toward them.

"Come on, the gate's right there!" Mark exclaimed.

An arrow pierced the walker's head and it finally died. Lee and Mark reached their limit and ran to the gate.

"You lucky sons of bitches! Go ahead and run! We ain't goin' nowhere!" a voice yelled after them.

* * *

><p>They made it back to the farmhouse and Andy ran to them in alarm. "Lee, what's wrong?"<p>

Lee took a breath and explained. "The electric fence came on! Some people started attacking from the woods and we got trapped between them and the fence!"

Danny ran over from the house, staring at Mark's wound, "Holy shit! Are you okay?"

Andy looked at his brother. Then he looked back at Lee. "I… I heard Mark yell and thought y'all were giving me the all clear! Man, I am real sorry."

"Oh, my Lord!" Brenda cried out, descending the steps from her house to the small group of men at the bottom. "What happened to you, sweetheart!?"

Andy turned to his mother, "It was those bastards in the woods, Mama…"

_Those bastards?_ Lee wondered. _Andy knows about them? And he sent us out there without warning?_

"Yeah... I'll be all right once it's out, but, goddamn it hurts!" Mark assured them.

Kenny and some of the others suddenly appeared walking down the driveway. "Hey, y'all."

"Mark!" Katjaa said. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"He got shot with an arrow," Lee answered.

"Christ," Lilly swore, "are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I should just... pull it out..."

"Oh no, honey, c'mon, Brenda's got you," Brenda said. "C'mon inside now. We'll have you all sort out." Brenda, Mark, and Katjaa went inside the house.

"What kind of shit is this?" Larry asked, angrily. Not that Lee expected him to talk any differently.

"We ran into some people on the way up here... bandits! I think it was them that attacked us." Lee answered.

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning, killed a bunch of our farmhands," Andy explained. "We were able to get 'em to stop by makin' a deal."

"You KNEW about these people?" Kenny asked.

"Food and protection," Danny answered. "Not like we had a choice, but they did stop hasslin' us."

"Christ," Lilly said, "maybe you were right about this place, Lee"

"Maybe it isn't as safe as we thought," Lee said.

"Look," Andy said, "we're sorry! We've never had them screw with us like this! Not since we started giving 'em food! Listen, we may have had an agreement with those people, but we will _not_ stand for this shit."

"Ain't no way we're gonna let those sons 'o bitches get away with this!" Danny said.

"You know where these assholes are?" Kenny asked.

"They're hard to pin down," Danny answered, "but I think I know where at least ONE of their camps are. When you're ready to go scope out that bandit camp, come find us."

"Bandits?" Lilly asked. "Are you serious? This place isn't safe, we can't stay here."

"Not safe?!" Kenny asked. "This place is a hell of a lot safer than that motor inn! I think all of us and our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows! What we need to do is find a way to get our whole group out here to stay. Take this place over if we have to."

"Cool your jets there, Rambo! These are nice people. Let's not do anything to get thrown out before we eat!" Larry said.

"I'm gonna head out and help Dan deal with these bandits," Lee said. "You guys should try to make friends with Andy and Brenda while I'm gone."

"Well, that's easy," Larry said. "I've got charm coming out of my ass."

"Yeah, that's... real charming, dad!" Lilly said, grossed out.

"Where's Ben and Carley?" Lee asked.

"Since Carley and Ben ate some of the food on the way to get us, she volunteered to stay behind and watch the motor inn until we get back."

Andy came back. "Hey, I remembered seeing kids in your group, so I went ahead and fixed that swing while you were out. Hope you kids like swings!"

"A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse! Come on, Duck!"

"Why don't you kids go and play on the swing, huh?" Kenny suggested.

Clementine and Duck went to the swing- Kenny bringing up the rear- and immediately started swinging, Kenny pushing Duck as Clementine sat on a tree stump next to the swing.

"Thanks," Lee said.

"Anytime," Andy responded. "We're looking out for ya!" He left with his brother up to the porch of his house.

"Lee," Lilly said from the side, Larry already gone. "What happened with Mark was not your fault."

"He'll be fine," Lee asserted.

"Right, right." Lilly walked away to join her dad by the huckleberry.

Lee joined Duck as Kenny pushed him on the swing.

"Hey," Lee said to the man with the mustache.

"Hey Lee, found anything interesting?" Kenny asked, referring to the St. John farm.

"I was talking to Andy a bit earlier, it doesn't sound like they have too many guns around. They rely mostly on the fence to keep them safe."

"So as long as you're on THIS side," Kenny concluded, still pushing Duck on the swing, "things are all right. Provided the fence holds out."

"Well that's the problem, when there's no more gas, there's no more fence."

"That's true," Kenny admitted. "Well, it's good to know what we're working with here. Keep looking around and let me know if you find anything else."

"Did Duck and Katjaa get here okay?" Lee asked.

"Well, it wasn't easy. Duck didn't look so good on the walk over to this place."

"If everything works out," Lee noticed, "maybe he and Katjaa can have an easier life here."

"I hope you're right," Kenny said. "Duck and Clementine deserve a better life than starving to death at some crappy motel."

Lee almost walked away, but something held him back. "Tyler might have been here," Lee said without thinking.

Kenny looked up at the ropes of the swing and missed his chance to push that time. "Really? What makes you say that?"

"Andy said they met someone a while ago that was looking for directions to... Macon."

"It could have been anybody," Kenny reassured. "Just because he ain't here doesn't mean he went to Macon."

"All right. I'm gonna go have a look around."

"Don't wait too long to help scope out that bandit camp. It'd be a good opportunity to find a bit more out about the St. John's and their relationship with those... bandits or whatever."

"Right," Lee agreed. "I'll see what I can find out." He walked away. He found the St. John brothers chatting up on the porch of their house.

Lee opened the gate and climbed the hill up to them. "Fellas," he greeted.

"How are ya feelin', Lee?" Andy replied. "I'm sorry that you almost got killed out there. We should have told you how dangerous it was."

"No shit," Lee said.

"You saw what they did to your buddy. Nobody's safe here until we start to fight back."

"But how?"

"The two of us should go out and do some recon, then, we'll mount up for some revenge!" Danny said.

"Hell yeah!" Andy yelled.

"So are you ready to move out and find their camp?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Lee answered. "It'll be a good opportunity to find out a bit more about what we're up against. Let's do it!"

"I'll stay here and hold down the fort," Andy suggested.

"Remember, we're just doing reconnaissance for now," Danny reminded. "No use getting ourselves killed."

Danny and Lee left for the forest as Clementine ran up to them. They didn't talk to her. She was left behind.

* * *

><p>"Here," Lee said. He found a camp in the woods with a couple of tents.<p>

Throughout their reconnoitering trip, they had stumbled back across the dead bandit who had been shot by his "friend" earlier. Someone else had come along and extracted the gun the man had held before Lee had arrived, and made sure that he wouldn't be getting back up. Following the direction the other bandit had walked off in, they had discovered an empty can of carrots on the dirt path before Lee had called attention to the camp.

"Oh shit!" Danny said. "You found it?"

Lee scoped the small camp and went inside and moved closer to it.

"You see anything?" Danny asked.

"Looks empty," Lee answered.

"Watch my back, Lee. I'm gonna check out the tent." He went in the camp site and searched for anybody. "Clear." There was no one in the tent as he checked. "This camp is too small. It can't be their main base."

"That's what I was thinking," Lee agreed.

"Take a look around anyway," Danny suggested. "There could still be some shit around here that they stole from us."

Lee took a look at the boxes on one of the tables. "What's in the boxes?" Danny asked.

"They're all from Save-Lots."

"The first few days, they told folks to gather to the Save-Lots by the interstate. Anything worth taking?"

"Not unless you need a bunch of empty cans," Lee joked.

"I'll pass," he chuckled.

He pushed aside the Save-Lots box and found three boxes with familiar logos.

"Boxes from the dairy here," Lee observed aloud.

"Prob'ly the food we've been given' em. Fuckers crossed the line." Lee pushed that box aside as well, and found a camcorder behind it. He picked it up and pressed the button. "What'd you find?"

"A video camera," Lee informed.

"Lemme see that," Danny said. It wasn't a question as much of a command.

"Battery's dead, though." Danny backed off at that.

"Oh, good," Danny remarked. "What else they got over here? Let's see if we can find anything useful and then get a move on." Danny walked to the other side of the table. "I see you handle that gun I lent ya pretty well. You a hunter?"

"No, but Lilly keeps us all on a regular training schedule."

"Lilly, right," Danny commented. "You did say she was doing things for ya. Sounds like you picked a good leader."

Lee checked the tent himself to look for supplies. Inside were two sleeping bags. One of them had a purple cap on the pillow. Lee pulled it up and turned it around. It had a white center with a "D" on it.

"...the hell?" Lee murmured, surprised.

"Don't you fucking move!" That wasn't Danny's voice.

"Shit!" Danny yelled. He held his gun up at her.

"PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!" she said. Lee held his gun up at her. "I ain't going back. You tell 'em Jolene ain't goin' back."

"Hey, we had a deal!" Danny said. "No shooting as long as we give you food! What the fuck happened?!"

"You had a deal with THEM. I ain't THEM." She kept her crossbow up at Lee, but looked at Danny. "I know you. I know what you are. I know what you do."

"You don't know me," Danny answered.

"Steal my shit!" she said. "Steal everything from me!"

"We're looking for the people who attacked the diary, and shot my friend," Lee said.

"I don't know where they are, but they ain't here. So get the fuck out of my camp!"

"She's lyin', Lee," Danny said.

"Now maybe you didn't hear me last time... when I asked you sweet... put your damn guns down! You think I won't kill you?! I'm gonna take this here crossbow, and put a nice sharp arrow, right through your eyeball. And into your goddamn brain. You're not men. You're monsters. All men are monsters! Take what they want, then destroy it all. Take a can of beans, take a little girl... it's all the fucking same to you!"

"Forget it, Lee! She's bat shit loco!" Danny said.

"The crazy lady in the woods brings fresh meat to the farm!" she said.

"YOU SHUT IT! NOW!" Danny shouted.

"You know what? I changed my mind... I'm putting this arrow right through your _balls_." Lee spared a glance at Danny, who did not return the look. "Yeah! Right through. String 'em on that tree over there. Then I'm a head down to that farm, and shoot every goddamn person I see."

"Put down the crossbow," Lee chimed in.

"No sir, I need it. I need to kill you fuckers." She started laughing. "Go on, tell him, boy! Tell him what you got in mind for-"

Gunshot. A bullet tore through Jolene's head and she fell face first to the dirt. Lee lowered his gun and stared at Jolene's bleeding corpse in horror before looking at Danny's smoking rifle. He lowered his gun as well. "God dammit," Danny yelled in frustration.

"She said she brought you meat," Lee pointed out.

"She did?" Danny asked, baffled.

"Yeah, and you got pissed. Why?"

"We do our own hunting," Danny asserted. He fixed Lee with an intense stare. Lee looked away and saw darker blood pooling out of the gunshot wound in her head, probably darker because it was coated with brain pieces. He sighed in exasperation. He needed to have a group discussion with Lilly and Kenny about this. "It's a clean shot though... right through the forehead. That's good shootin' right there. Still, what a waste."

"So that's it?" Lee asked. "We going back?"

"If they ain't here, I don't know where they are. And it ain't a good idea to go tromping through the woods looking for them. So, yeah, we head back." He paused and grinned. "Once they see this... they'll get the message." He walked over to the corpse, picked up the crossbow, and walked away with it. "C'mon." Lee followed him back to the dairy farm.

* * *

><p>Lee walked through the gate after Danny, who paused near the picket fence and spun to face Lee. "Man, that was a hell of a ride, huh?"<p>

Lee tossed his rifle to him, or rather, at him. "Jesus, Danny."

"What?" the youngest St. John questioned. "You ain't gettin' soft on them, are ya? Not after what they did to your friend!"

"You're back," a maternal voice said from the porch. "What happened?" Brenda asked as she stood.

"Handled it, mama," Danny replied quietly. He walked over to the tree stump next to the swing, taking both firearms and the crossbow in two hands. He set down the crossbow and Lee's weapon before taking a seat himself and rubbing his gun. Almost... graciously? _No, that's not the right word for it_. Affectionately. That worked better for the seemingly guileless care Danny St. John displayed towards his rifle.

Lee walked up the hill to Brenda, who sat back down onto the porch. "This isn't what Terry would've wanted..." she solemnly remarked.

"Terry?" Lee asked.

"My husband. Miss him every day."

"Yeah, I miss my son too," Lee shared.

"Then screw it up for everybody, why don't you?" Lilly yelled from near the barn. Lee turned and saw her pointing a finger at Kenny.

"Oh calm down, princess," Kenny angrily replied. "I'll do it myself."

"What's going on with them?" Lee asked Brenda.

"Dunno," Brenda said. "Squabblin' looks like. A lotta tension with ya'll, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that. They don't see eye to eye on how we should be doing things."

"Well, it's probably the hunger talkin'! And Lee, don't worry your head about them bandits. I'm sorry you've seen more violence than I'da thought in your short time, but ya'll are safe here. Don't worry.

"Oh, and thank your friend Katjaa again for me. She and the kids are in the barn with the cow. That woman is a lifesaver!"

He began to walk away, but noticed Kenny walking away. "Hey Kenny! Wait there." He ran back down the hill. Kenny, still walking away, ignored Lee's request. "Kenny!" Lee caught up to him near the barn entrance. "Ken." He grabbed his shoulder.

An annoyed Kenny turned to Lee. "The fuck do you want?

"We need to have a talk with Lilly," Lee calmed.

"This ain't the time for making nice, Lee."

"It's not about that," Lee assured. "It's something that needs to be discussed, though."

Kenny shook his head. "Fine." The pair of men walked over to Lilly, who stood near her dad in the very corner of the plotted fence area, Larry on a bench and Lilly in the gazebo. _Quaint_, he thought. _Doesn't offer much in the way of protection, though._

Lilly noticed Lee first. "Hey! What happened at the camp? Did you guys find anymore of those guys that hurt Mark?"

Lee shook his head. "We found a woman in the woods. She was talking all crazy and had a crossbow... so Danny killed her."

"Holy shit," Lilly remarked. Kenny's eyes widened at this as well. "Was she one of those bandits?"

"I don't know. I think she was trying to tell me something, but then he just went off."

"I don't like this, Lee," the ex soldier stated. "I still say we should go back to the Motor Inn where we at least know what to expect."

"Like it or not, Lilly," Kenny snapped, "we need to eat."

Lilly was about to respond, but Lee cut her off. "Look, we need to talk about the Motor Inn. Larry, can you leave for a second?"

"Hey!" Larry grumbled. "I'm part of this group too."

"Dad, please," Lilly pacified. "Why don't you go talk to Brenda?" Larry stood up and walked past Lee and Kenny, bumping shoulders with them both as he went to Brenda. "What is it, Lee?"

"I don't know if we can go back to the Motor Inn."

"What makes you say that?" Kenny asked.

Lee pulled out the purple cap from the woman's camp. "I found this while looking in their camp."

Both of their eyes widened. Kenny reached for Clementine's hat. "The bandits know about us?"

"Maybe," Lee said.

Kenny handed the hat back to Lee. "You see? All the more reason for us to go for the coast."

"Hang on," Lilly countered. "We don't know if this woman was with the bandits."

"She had a crossbow! The people who shot Mark used arrows," Kenny surmised.

"Everything is just another excuse for you to leave us."

"Kenny won't leave us," Lee said. "He's just trying to keep us safe."

"Bullshit. His family is all he cares about."

"That ain't true," Kenny said. He turned around and walked away. "I don't need to take this shit from you."

"Lee, you do know that I'm being careful about this, right?"

"Yeah, you're just trying to keep us safe. Just like Kenny, but he's just offering too much change for you."

"Thanks, Lee," Lilly said.

"What were you and Kenny arguing about when I came back from the camp?"

"He's losing it, Lee. He comes over and starts talking about searching the barn and that these people are hiding something. "He's losing it, Lee. He comes over and starts talking about searching the barn and that these people are hiding something. The way I see it, we need to just skip the dinner and get our food to go. But I'm starting to think your friend over there has another agenda."

"How do you feel about leaving the motor inn?" Lee asked.

"I don't know. If we'd just stayed where we were, then Mark wouldn't have ended up with an arrow in his shoulder."

"I'm gonna go check things out," Lee said.

"Just don't get too nosy. These kinds of people are usually pretty protective of their privacy."

Lee walked after Kenny. He opened the barn door and walked inside, noticing the kids, the veterinarian and the older St. John brother sitting around a cow. Clementine stood there in an uncertain manner, of which Katjaa noticed. "It's okay, Clementine, you can pet her."

Clementine looked at Lee for encouragement. "It's okay, go ahead," he reassured.

The girl hesitantly stepped towards the cow and held out a shaky hand to feel its skin. "Woah..." And with that, all of her shakiness was gone. "Katjaa says Maybelle could have her baby tonight!"

"We'll see, Clementine," Katjaa said.

Lee walked over to Duck's right, and found a large brick-like object. "What's this thing?"

"Daddy says it's called a salt lick," Duck answered.

"Yeah, but don't lick it," Clementine said. "It's gross."

"Did you lick it?" Lee asked playfully.

Clementine paused. "I don't know."

"Have I missed anything?" He asked Duck.

"No, not really." He sniffled. "It smells funny in here."

"Like manure!" Clementine blurted out.

"What's 'manure?'" Duck asked.

"Doo-dee!" Clementine responded.

The children giggled until Katjaa interrupted them by saying "Kids!" Everyone's attention returned to the cow.

"Here Clementine." Lee pulled out her hat.

"My hat! You found it!" She placed it on her head. "I knew you'd find it! You said you would! Thanks Lee."

"Listen, did you… give your hat to anyone?" Lee questioned.

"No."

"Did you see any strangers around the motor inn who might have taken it?"

"No. Why?" Her previously jovial expression had taken on a much darker tone, as if fearing Lee would punish her for matters beyond her control.

"It's probably nothing. Just let me know if you ever see anything like that."

"Okay, I will." Clementine clutched her left wrist. Lee smiled. "Well, thanks for finding my hat."

"You're welcome Clem."

"Do you want to pet the cow with me?" she asked hopefully.

"Nah, but you go on ahead." She turned back to Maybelle.

Lee looked around for Kenny, and during his search he found a locked door at the end of the barn. He inspected the lock. "You found it too, eh?" a voice quietly asked from behind, though Lee didn't need to turn to know who it was. "Lee, they're hiding something behind this door. I got a quick look. They got boxes of stuff. And something metal and sharp."

"Don't get paranoid," Lee requested.

"It's my JOB to be paranoid," Kenny resisted. "I got my whole family on this farm right now. How about you? What about Clem?"

Lee looked at her. "I'll protect her, no matter what."

"I know you will," Kenny returned. "Look, that guy with Katjaa... What's-his-name. He locked it up real TIGHT the second we came in. I definitely heard a noise back there, Lee."

Lee looked at him expectantly. "What?"

Kenny shook his head. "My point is, we gotta know for sure. So go find a hammer, and I'll have this thing off in a second. You back me up in case them farmers come running."

"Hang on, man. Think this through," Lee pleaded. "You smash the lock. Then what if it turns out you're wrong? You just fucked your chance to get a good meal in those kids you're trying to protect. Use your head, Kenny."

"All right, professor. What do you have in mind?" Kenny questioned.

"Let me have a look at what we're dealing with first." Lee looked at the combination lock.

"Hey, Lee," Kenny enunciated. "You know how to pick a lock, right?"

"No," Lee said, a bit louder than he had intended. "Why would you say that?"

"Well. You're..." he stammered. "You know." He squinted in fear. "Urban?"

"Oh, you are NOT saying what I think you're saying."

"Jesus, man! I'm from Florida! Crazy shit just comes out of my mouth sometimes. Sorry."

Lee shook his head and returned his attention to the lock. _Ain't no way I'm gonna bust through that, _Lee mused. He inspected the door carefully, noticing a band of screws sealing the lock on the door. "Hm!"

Kenny looked at him. "What?"

"See those screws?" Lee pointed out. "Instead of breaking the padlock, we can just take off the assembly, have a peek inside, and then replace it all again like nothing ever happened.

"All right. Sounds like you got a plan. I'll hang around and keep an eye on that guy with the cow."

"Andy."

"Shit. I thought that was Danny," Kenny stammered. "Whatever."

"Can I help you boys find something?" a voice rang out.

"What's behind this door, Andy?" Lee asked directly.

"Just tools. We keep it locked so the people in the woods don't try and grab 'em. We'd be dead without our tools." He suddenly smiled. "Hey, uh... do me a favor. Don't fuck around with this door, okay? Just, you know, Mama gets nervous."

Katjaa called for Andy, "Andrew! I need your help again."

"No problem! Right away, doc!"

Kenny walked over to one of the stables and put his back to it. Lee walked over to Andy. "Hey there, Andy."

"Yup?"

"Danny mentioned he needed something."

"Did he say what?" Andy asked.

"Shit, I can't remember, sorry."

He sighed. "I'll be right back." He walked out of the barn.

Lee looked at Katjaa. "How are the kids?"

"They're doing okay." She looked up. "I never did thank you for saving Duck from the walkers back at Hershel's farm."

Lee nodded. "Katjaa," he began.

"Andy will be back any minute." She was in on this too? "Please hurry." Lee followed Katjaa's gaze to the locked door.

Andy walked back in. "False alarm. I'm back," he announced.

_I need a longer lasting distraction,_ Lee realized. He walked out of the barn to find such a distraction. He closed the door behind him and noticed Brenda laughing in the distance with Larry. He shook his head and smiled. "Charm coming out of my ass."

Lee walked over to the electric fence gate back into the yard... _The generator!_ Lee suddenly thought. He walked over to a toolbox on a table near the picket fence and opened it up. There really wasn't really anything useful in it except for a multi-tool. He pulled it out. "Just gonna borrow this for a second," he said to himself.

He hurriedly walked back over to the generator out of fear of being discovered. He knelt down before it, thanking Lilly for sending Larry to talk to Brenda and that Danny was obsessed with his rifle. Using the screwdriver attachment on the multi-tool, he opened the latch of the generator's belt.

With the lid open, Lee could see the moving pieces of the active generator. He pressed the off button on the generator and pulled out the belt with the plier attachment. He pocketed the item and walked away from the generator after closing the small door

Andy poked his head out of the barn a moment later. He walked over to the generator, muttering to himself about the belt being thrown out. Lee, satisfied with the long lasting distraction, walked back into the barn.

* * *

><p>He found Kenny where he was before. "I picked up something I think can help with the lock," he informed.<p>

"Great. Nothing to stop you now."

Lee walked over to the door. At that moment, a bunch of dinner bells chimed. "Mom! Dad!" Duck shouted. "Dinner time! Dinner time!"

"Okay, honey. Let's get Dad," Katjaa calmed.

Duck ran over to the pair of men huddled around the locked door. "Dad! Dad! C'mon, let's EEAAAAAAT!"

"Kenny?" Katjaa requested. "Come along, honey. Kenny, c'mon, don't make the children wait."

"I'll make an excuse for you," Kenny whispered, walking backwards. "Get that thing off!" He followed his family and Clem out of the barn to the house.

Lee turned his attention to the screws. One by one, all were twisted to the left and pulled out. With all of the screws off, Lee pulled the doors apart.

Lee did not like the amount of blood inside of the room.

Chain saws, mallets, bone saws, hooks, peelers of corn, bolt-cutters and other sharp, metallic objects glinted in that room. Not a single one of those instruments looked like they had been used for any non-nefarious purposes; some diabolical plan for world domination. All of them were practically invaluable in the apocalypse, each of them superb weapons to be used if they weren't bolted down by screws. A gold mine lay before him. The only thing that stopped him from gasping in awe was the roar in his head that kept his eyes focused on the blood. Some of it looked fresh, and none of them looked dark enough to be a walker's blood.

"Boy. Didn't you hear the bell?" a voice asked from behind. Lee turned. "Dinner time."

"Why was there so much blood in there?" Lee demanded.

"Look. We have food here, but Danny and I still gotta do a lot of hunting to keep everyone fed." Andy explained calmly, it sounded rehearsed, "When we catch something in the woods, we skin it and dress it back there. Mama doesn't like us to make a mess in the house. So you see? Nothin' to worry about."

Lee said nothing. He doubted that story. He and Mark had almost never found anything edible while hunting, yet some of the blood in that room was fresh. He and Danny had not gone hunting while looking for the bandit camp, and Andy had supposedly been here the whole time. What animals had been killed here in the last few hours? Why had Andy lied about the room just being used for tools?

Why were there bear traps in that room that shared some of the fresh blood?

He couldn't call Andy out on his lie without being overbearing, and that might get him and the group kicked off the farm without any food. Lee opted to silently restrain his doubts but not forget Andy's lies. He walked past him out of the barn and into the house. Andy made no effort to reseal the door with the missing screws.

* * *

><p>Once he opened the door, he was bombarded by everyone's compliments of Brenda's cooking. Lilly walked past Lee from the bathroom to the dining room.<p>

"Excuse the mess," Andy said. "We had to block the back door after a walker got upstairs. Don't worry, that was a while ago and they ain't been back inside since." _Walkers? Since when does her refer to the undead as walkers?_

Lee saw a revolver in Andy's back pocket as he walked to the dinner table.

"Everybody sit down and I'll go get the meal!" Brenda said. "Ooh, this is a delight!"

"I could eat a horse," Kenny joked.

"Where's Mark?" Lee asked.

All of the adults looked up at her in anticipation of her answer. "Now don't you worry about him," Brenda said. "I've already brought some food up. You just let him rest."

_I'll be the judge of that_, he thought. "Mind if I wash my hands first?"

"Bathroom's right outside in the hall. And be sure to get under your nails, you've been muckin' around in the dirt all day."

Lee walked out in the hall. He found a picture of Terry and Brenda together. He also looked at high school diplomas and baseball certificates. Instead of washing his hands, he hung outside the dining room. He found an orange wire that led upstairs. Slowly, he walked up the stairs so no one would hear the floor creak.

The wire led to a closet, but led to another room behind it. A light was peeking through the hole the wire was going through. Lee heard a feeble moan from the other side. _Tyler_? his first instinct sounded.

Lee walked over to an adjacent door and opened it up, though Mark was not on the bed inside. "Where the hell is Mark?" He said to himself. "I thought Brenda said he was up here resting." He saw a bloodstain next to a bookshelf. He also saw the same light under the bookshelf. He pushed the bookshelf aside, which had wheels on the bottom. Behind it was another door.

When he opened it, he found Mark in his own pool of blood. "Lee..."

What _really_ disgusted Lee, though, was that Mark was missing his legs. From the thigh down.

"Mark?! What the hell happened?!"

"...brothers..."

"What the hell happened to your legs, man?!"

"Don't... eat... dinner..."

"Lee," Brenda called out jovially, "did ya fall in?! Dinner's on the table an' everyone's havin' at it!"

Lee was only thinking about Clementine eating Mark's legs. And he knew what he had to do.

He ran back downstairs, leaving Mark's body behind. He stopped at the door, strangely out of breath (most likely from witnessing that traumatic sight upstairs). Danny had his rifle next to him. "DON'T EAT THAT!" Lee yelled. He said it before Clementine took a bite. She put her fork down.

"Lee, Jesus, man! Did you find something?" Kenny asked.

"Sit your ass down, Lee!" Larry said. "This lady just made you a meal!"

"Yeah, Lee," Lilly said, "what's gotten into you?"

"He just got a start," Brenda guessed.

"He could use some goddamn manners!" Larry said.

"This woman, right here, is fucking INSANE," Lee said.

"This _woman_ made you a home cooked meal, you ungrateful shit!" Larry said. "Show some respect!"

"Thank you, Larry," Brenda said.

"You don't even have the DECENCY to take a handout when you're offered one," Larry insulted. "It just makes me sick, it really does!"

"That's enough, Larry," Brenda said.

"Ken, maybe we should-" Katjaa began.

"Hang on, Kat," her husband cut off. "Just keep Duck close."

"That woman just fed you a man's legs!" Lee yelled.

"And SHE'S the insane one? Ha!" Larry joked. He didn't listen.

"Lee, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lilly asked.

"Don't indulge him, Lilly. It's always something with this guy."

Katjaa pulled Duck's plate away, for he had been ignoring the whole argument and had not stopped eating. "Mom, I was eating that!" Duck complained.

"Go upstairs and have a look. You'll find a man with both of his legs hacked off!" Lee shouted forcefully. "It's a dairy, not a ranch. Think about it." Everyone seemed to pause after that, except Danny, who was the only one still eating.

All eyes turned to the chef. "It's true," she stated simply.

"Everything coulda turned out okay for you folks," Danny said.

"He woulda' died anyway! We gotta think about LIVIN'!" Andy said.

"Settle down, honey," Brenda calmed. "Growin' up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised and how I raised my boys. Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothin' but eat people. And for what? To continue to rot til' they eat some more. We think we can put that meat to better use."

"Just let us go," Lee pleaded.

Brenda looked down. "Andy is right; we go after folks who were gonna die anyways, one way or another."

Danny put down his fork. "Like ya'll."

Everyone looked at each other, the same question on their minds: _Who's gonna make the first move?_

"Aww, screw this! We're getting outta here!" Kenny said.

Andy pulled out his revolver. "Nobody's going anywhere!"

Danny grabbed his rifle. "We got lots of use for ya'll right here."

Andy pointed his pistol directly at Kenny, who immediately sat back down in his chair.

"What the...what the... What the what? Fuck!" Larry was damn near speechless.

"Put your guns down! We're walking outta here!" Lilly yelled.

"Mommy, I don't wanna die! Mommy, what did I eat?" Duck asked.

"Somebody do something!" Lee ordered.

"Lee! Lee...!" Clementine said, frightened.

Andy grabbed her by the back of her hair and pulled. Clementine squealed.

The walls flattened. The food melted. Larry's shouting quieted. _Andy. Fucker._ He pointed his revolver at Lee.

Lee growled and threw himself in that direction, but was cut short by some cold metal at his neck. He pulled his chin back glared at Danny's rifle.

Banging sounded from behind Lee, and it didn't sound like windbreaks. A quick glance at Brenda's face told him that she had no idea what this banging was either. He turned- slowly to avoid being shot by Danny- and found Mark outside the doorway. He was crawling across the floor, begging for help.

Everyone except Danny, Andy and Brenda cried out in horror and disgust. _They're distracted, _Lee realized. He quickly turned to face Andy. He looked at Clementine, about to tell her to run, but saw her fainting.

"Clement-" Lee began, but was cut off by Danny bashing the rifle on his head.

* * *

><p>"Open the goddamn door!" Larry screamed. Lee woke up with Larry pounding the door, Lilly vomiting, and with Kenny and Clementine just standing there. "You can't leave us in here! Open up! I WILL TEAR YOU FUCKERS APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!"<p>

"Will you stop that banging?!" Kenny requested distantly. "We gotta find another way outta here!"

"You sick fucking bastards!" Larry yelled. He ignored Kenny.

Lilly was still vomiting out her meal.

"OPEN THIS DOOR GODDAMMIT!" Larry continued. "I WILL KNOCK THE GODDAMN DOOR DOWN!"

"Dad, stop!" Lilly said.

Clementine apparently saw Lee waking up and ran toward him. "It-it was a person! They tried to make us eat a person!"

"But you didn't do it..." Lee said, gauging her facial expression to confirm.

"No..."

"THE REST OF US DID, GODDAMMIT, if you hadn't dragged your feet!" Larry yelled.

"C'mon, Dad. Now's not the time!" Lilly calmed.

"Is there a way out?" Lee asked.

"Yeah... THROUGH THIS FUCKING DOOR!" Larry screamed.

"If they so much as touch my family, I'll kill those sons of bitches!" Kenny sweared.

"They locked us in here. I think it's a meat locker," Clementine explained.

"Those psychos have Katjaa and Duck!" Kenny said.

"Open up! YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Larry screamed.

"Dad! Please, stop!" Lilly said.

"I'm scared," Clementine said.

"Don't be," Lee said. "It's gonna be okay... I'm gonna find us a way out of here..." He went over to Lilly. "Your Dad's not making things any easier for us..."

"Open the fucking door!" Larry yelled, a bit quieter than before.

"Dad, stop!" Lilly yelled.

"Goddammit!"

"C'mon, Larry. Do you really want to attract their attention?" Lee asked.

"Yeah... I want to attract there attention, so I can fucking kill them!" Larry answered.

"Guess your new girlfriend wasn't all she was cracked up to be," Lee retorted.

"What the hell is your problem?" Larry said, finally stopping. "You were a prick to me back at the motor inn... and you went out of your way to be an asshole to me tonight! You must really hate me! But guess what? You're stuck with me! I plan to be around long after you're gone. And if you turn... I'll be the one to put the axe in your skull!"

"Dad!" Lilly yelled.

"No... you're not worth the energy to hate..." Lee said.

"Don't forget... I know who you really are!" Larry said. And he continued to pound on the door. "I'll break the door down!"

"Dad! You can't get-" Lilly said.

Suddenly, Larry stopped pounding on the door and clutched his chest in pain. "Oh, god!" He fell to the ground.

Clementine gasped. Lilly bent down to check for his pulse. "No! Dad, come on. DAD!" Lilly went berserk. "Oh, God, he's stopped breathing. I think he had a heart attack!"

"Shit!" Kenny said. "Is he dead?"

"He's not dead! Somebody help me!"

"Fuuuuuuuck... If he's dead..."

"HE'S NOT DEAD!"

"...You know what has to happen, Lee. Think about it you saw that poor bastard at the motel. How fast he turned."

"What are you saying?!" Lilly asked.

"Lilly, I'm sorry. I truly, truly am. But in the next few minutes, we're gonna be stuck in a locked room with a six-foot-four, three-hundred-pound, SERIOUSLY pissed off dead guy."

"FUCK YOU! We can bring him back. LEE!"

"We'll mourn him later. But right now, we have to keep him from comin' back."

"No!" Clementine yelped.

"Goddammit, Kenny! He's not dead!"

"Maybe you're right," Lee regretfully said to Kenny.

"No! Goddammit! My dad's survived worse than this!"

"Look, Kenny... Back at the drug store when we all thought Duck was bitten... I gave him the benefit of the doubt... Maybe we should do the same now."

Kenny avoided Lee's gaze. "That was different. Duck wasn't bitten. But, come on, we KNOW this guys's not gonna make it." He looked Lee in the eyes. "Remember what Ben said. Gotta destroy the brain. Lee, I know you have my back, you always do."

"Goddammit Lee, I NEED you! Please help me!" Lilly begged.

Lee thought first about Clementine's safety, being his number one priority. If Larry reanimated, she'd be in danger. And, like it or not, Lee had a way to prevent that.

He looked at Kenny and groaned. "You're right, Kenny. Let's get this over with."

Lilly looked up from her resuscitation of her father. "You fucking monsters! Both of you!"

"I don't want to see!" Clementine announced and ran to the corner of the room.

Lee walked over to Lilly's back. He gripped her shoulders while she kept telling him to stop. "I'm sorry, Lilly. It's the only way."

Lee grunted and pulled her back off of Larry. Lilly managed to throw off Lee's hold and threw herself upon her father. Lee reattached his hands to her shoulders and she started struggling again. From the corner of Lee's vision, Kenny appeared, heaving something over his head.

Lee jerked Lilly backwards and pinned her down.

Kenny crushed Larry's head with a salt lick. He backed up in horror as Lee stood up with him, both covered in blood. "God help us," Kenny commented. He crouched down to meet a sobbing Lilly. "I'm sorry. I know it-"

"Don't you fucking touch me," Lilly snapped.

Lee heard loud sobbing from behind him. "Clementine," he remembered aloud. She shouldn't have seen him do that.

He walked over to her in the corner. She turned to him as he crouched down. "Why Lee?! Lilly said he wasn't dead!"

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "We couldn't take that chance. You understand why we had to do this, Clementine?"

"So he won't turn into one of those monsters?" Clementine surmised.

"That's right," Lee affirmed. The little girl didn't stop crying, so Lee hugged her. "Shh," he consoled. "I know. I know. But you gotta be strong right now. I need you to be strong. Think about something else... Something hopeful."

She pulled back. "Like what?"

"How about your walkie-talkie... those pretend talks with your mom and dad. Don't those make you feel better?"

"Sometimes." She nodded. "We're gonna get out, right? You found a way out?"

"I'm workin' on it."

Lee walked around looking for a way out if the meat locker, but he couldn't avoid sneaking in glances at what remained of Larry. He couldn't decide if it would have been easier to work with Larry's constant yelling or if it would be easier with his bloody corpse in the center of the room.

He walked over to the air conditioner of the freezer. "There ought to be an air duct behind this unit, maybe big enough for one of us to fit through," he wondered aloud.

"I dunno, Lee… seems like a long shot," Kenny's voice commented.

"Does the air-conditioner come off?" Clementine asked.

"I think I could take it off… if I had something to remove the screws... The multi-tool!" Lee felt around in his pocket. He found it empty. "Of course they took it. Shit."

"Maybe there's something else we could use," Clementine observed. "I've got a rock."

"Nah…a rock won't help…but a _coin_ might do the trick. Do you have a coin?"

"Uh-uh…" she shook her head regretfully.

_I've got sixty cents in my pocket if you'll shut up and quit being such a pansy._

Shit.

Lee went over to Kenny, hoping someone else would have what he needed. "You think maybe we were too hasty?" Lee asked.

Kenny looked indifferent. "Only one important thing right now: getting the fuck out of here. We did what we had to."

"Katjaa and Duck," Lee began.

"What about 'em?" the fisherman demanded.

"You don't think the St. John's..." Lee trailed off.

"No!" Kenny desperately yelled. "They- they need Katjaa, remember? She's the whole reason they brought us here."

"Sure," Lee allowed. "And Duck is valuable as a bargaining chip."

"We've got to get to them."

"If the duct behind the air conditioner is big enough, we might've found our way out of here..."

"Yeah?" Kenny asked excitedly.

"But I need something to loosen the screws."

"I got nothin'." Kenny shut his eyes. "Shit!"

"Hang tight... maybe I can scrounge something."

Lee turned to Lilly, but felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at Kenny. "Hey, Lee..." he hesitated.

"What?"

"If... If... If that was Tyler that came here for directions-"

"It probably wasn't him," Lee asserted. "It could've been anybody."

"Yeah, but, if it was him-" Kenny stopped.

"It wasn't," he insisted. He glared at Kenny.

"What if you're wrong?" Kenny checked.

"Then those fuckers outside won't be eating anything else ever again." He turned back to Lilly. Lee attempted to change his own mood before talking to her, but to no avail. _Dammit, Kenny_. "I'm sorry Lilly."

"Don't talk to me, Lee," she warned. "Don't fucking talk to me."

Lee's eyes darkened. "You've got to pull yourself together, Lilly."

"Why? For your sake? So you can feel better about what you DID?"

"For your own sake," Lee calmed, his own anger draining away.

"Right," she agreed sarcastically. "Because you care SO much about me."

"I think I may have found us a way out of here. But I'll need something to remove the screws on the air-conditioner. If you had something I could use as a screwdriver…a coin or something…"

"No!" Lilly interrupted, looking up from her father's corpse.

He sighed, "…What about HIM? Look, I know this is a terrible time for it, but… back at the Motor Inn, Larry mentioned something about keeping change in his pockets…"

She gritted her teeth, "In other words, my father's more useful to you dead than alive."

"If he was alive, and had the key to getting us out of here, do you think he'd keep it to himself?"

"What do you want? My blessing to _loot_ his _corpse_?" she demanded.

Lee looked down, "…Your… permission."

She cried, but nevertheless relented. "Do what you have to do."

Even with her permission to search in Larry's pockets, Lee didn't feel any better about doing this. He looked down at Larry, feeling sick to the stomach. "Hoo boy. Any idea which pocket he keeps his change in?"

"Fucking vulture…" Larry's daughter mumbled.

He knelt down, reaching into the closest pocket. His fingers found something metallic and round. "Here we go." He sighed, pulling them out. "Two quarters… and a dime." He stood up and went back over to the air conditioner. He held out one quarter in his hand and removed two screws with two passes. Kenny came over and helped him removed the cover.

They set the piece of metal down. "Well," Kenny remarked. "There's our way out, Lee."

It wasn't big enough for either of them to get into, though. "Clementine can fit through."

"Looks like it'll probably lead right into that back room..."

Lee walked over to Clementine and crouched down. "You think you can do this?" the former professor asked nervously.

"I'm scared," Clementine replied.

"It's okay to be scared." He stood up.

"We need you, Clementine," Kenny said.

"Okay," she accepted.

Lee gave her a boost up to the duct. "You're gonna be fine," Lee promised.

"What do I do when I get out?" she checked.

"See if you can get to the other side of that door and open it." She turned and crawled out of sight. Lee heard constant clanging of metal as she went deeper and deeper into the unknown.

Then he heard her gasp.

Everyone, including Lilly, looked up in concern. Nothing happened. The door then swung outwards, and a little girl with a purple cap on walked through.

Lee relaxed. "Are you okay?! Did anyone see you?"

"No," she whispered. "But there's a man outside."

Lee turned to Lilly. "Lilly. We gotta go."

"Leave me alone," she quietly ordered.

"Lee!" Kenny called. "I can see him."

"It's not safe in here-" he tried.

"For god's sake Lee, I didn't even get to say goodbye."

_Most of us haven't,_ he thought.

"Get in here," Kenny's voice rang out. "I've got an idea."

He walked to the open doorway. "Stay here," he told Clementine. "Take care of Lilly, okay?"

She nodded. "I will."

Lee slipped out the door.

He found Kenny standing amidst the bloody butcher room- the one on the other side of the locked door from before dinner- gazing in shock at the mess. He noticed the jars of human body parts that were reddened with blood. Kenny gasped, "I told you there was something up with this damn room! It's a goddamned human slaughterhouse!"

_And Tyler could be one of the humans in here,_ Lee thought angrily.

Kenny bent down, peeking through the farm door. There was something on the table closest to Lee, he curiously picked it up. It was a hay hook, something used to lift up small bales of hay. He examined the two long prongs that curved at the end. They had blood on them, so it was probably possible to cause damage to humans with the hay hook. He pocketed the impromptu weapon.

"So what's the plan?" Lee asked Kenny.

"That dumbass is so caught up in his own rant that we could probably sneak right up on him," he answered confidently. "Just stick behind me, in case anything goes down. When we get to the front, we'll grab his gun."

"Sounds good." Lee agreed.

"Okay, you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Lee fell into a crouch behind Kenny and he opened the formerly locked door without the screws.

Lee walked out of the door to the left and Kenny the right, neither standing up for fear of being detected. Lee looked out towards the front of the barn; where Maybelle the cow was resting on its side and Danny was outside in the rain. Fortunately, his back was turned to them and his gun was discarded behind him. The farmer was so busy shouting at the walkers to notice a few creaks in the wooden floor.

The two of them were almost to the front, when another figure appeared. "Dan, what are you doing outside the barn?"

"Oh shit!" Kenny cursed loud enough for only Lee to hear. The two of them found safety in an open horse stall with a small pile of hay in the corner. Lee closed the small gate behind them and knelt down.

"Just guarding the place, like you said," said an annoyed voice. Danny.

"Well, quit sittin' out in the rain like a damn weirdo. Mama says we can't keep that many folks alive and not expect trouble." Andy informed. "Pick one to keep and kill the rest."

"Can I pick which one to keep alive?" _Why was there a hopeful tone in Danny's voice?_

"Not the kid," Andy decided. "Not enough meat on her to trade." Lee couldn't tell if that was the answer Danny had been looking for or not, and his face was concealed from view. He heard someone walk and his footsteps get softer and softer.

"We'll take him out together," Lee said.

"How?"

"He doesn't know we're out. He's gotta walk past us to get to the meat locker. We can take him when his back is to us." The cow mooed from the front of the barn.

"See what he's doing now," Kenny ordered. Lee followed Kenny's orders and pushed open the wooden stall's door.

He froze when he noticed the barrel of Danny's gun right in front of his eyes.

Lee hurriedly pushed the gun out of his face right before the gun fired. However, it resounded once it fired directly into his left ear. Lee, stunned, slapped his ear and stumbled out of the stable. Luckily, he felt no blood.

When he regained his senses, Danny was loading another bullet into the cartridge. Lee pulled out the hay hook and thrusted it into Danny. He cried out, but managed to stay on his feet. He pushed the butt of the rifle into the side of Lee's head, knocking him to the floor.

Lee looked up at his captor, who pulled the sharp object from his chest and threw it onto the floor. He approached Lee's supine figure and aimed his weapon at Lee's head. The stable door Lee had been hiding behind before opened right onto Danny's arm around the gun, knocking it out of his hands to somewhere behind Lee.

Kenny, who must have retrieved a sickle from the storage room, wielded the sharp object right under Danny's armpit. He then smashed the lower end of the weapon into the upper part of that same shoulder. Danny stumbled backwards into the open bear trap.

He fell down, never to rise again. His maimed leg was caught in the same way that Parker guy's leg, the teacher with Ben and Travis, had earlier that day. He reached for his foot, trying to pull the bear trap apart with his hands, but he couldn't reach it.

"Where's my family, asshole?!" Kenny shouted.

"You can't have 'em! We need the vet," Danny said.

Kenny dropped the sickle as Lee stood up. He gave a thumbs up to Kenny, but Kenny was distracted by a scream that came from outside of the barn. "Kat!" He turned to Lee, who had put his hand down. "Lee! Come on!"

"Just go," Lee said. He looked down at the trapped cannibal. "I won't be far behind."

Kenny took off, hunting down the remainders of the St. John family. Lee grabbed a pitchfork from beside Danny. He lowered it to face Danny's chest.

"Eerrgghhh!" the farmer groaned outwardly. "You see?! You understand now, don't you?!" Danny asked. "You can have me! It's how the world works now! Give part of yourself… so others can live!"

"Mark never volunteered to be food!" Lee berated.

"You gotta keep me alive. If you kill me, the meat gets tainted! You can't eat it!"

"You're already tainted!" Lee spat.

"You ain't gonna kill me, just like you didn't kill Jolene… You don't have what it takes…! Heheh, fucking coward." He glared at Lee, as if believing he could kill Lee with just a glance.

Lee threw the pitchfork. Danny cried out, but the object didn't touch him. Instead, it embedded itself into a hay bale beside him.

"This is _not_ how the world works now. You won't make me kill you!" Lee shook his fist at him.

"Fuck you, Lee," a voice said from his left. He turned and saw Clementine behind Lilly, who was holding the rifle Danny had used before. "You and Kenny MURDER my dad, but you leave THIS piece of shit alive?! You're a fucking asshole." Clementine looked down and cringed at the swearing.

"Oh God! Don't hurt him!" Katjaa loudly plead above the noise of the thunderstorm outside from somewhere outside.

"That's Katjaa!" Lee stated. He looked at the little girl. She nodded her consent.

"Please, no!" Katjaa begged again.

"Lilly, please, keep her safe." She looked at him with a posture that indicated a positive reaction. He walked purposefully out of the barn, leaving Danny with Lilly.

He crouched down a few feet away from the barn, both annoyed and grateful for the rain. "Kenny!" he shouted into the night. No response came. He looked at the house, which still had lights on inside.

He prepared to move, but heard a snarl from his right. He reached for his hay hook, but found that it was gone. _It must have fallen out during my fight with Danny._ A walker appeared out of the brush, right in front of the inactive electric fence. His call for Kenny must have attracted it.

The walker fell to the ground after Lee distinctly heard a clap from behind it. A crouching figure in purple and white appeared from behind it. She made her way closer to the fence.

"Carley," Lee called, relieved to see her.

"Lee!" Carley said, surprised. Ben came up beside her a moment later, complaining about some obscure pain in his leg, to which Carley quieted. "Is everyone okay?" she then whispered. "We heard screams as we were coming up to the house."

"We need your help!"

"Yeah, when you guys didn't come back I figured something was up." She arched her eyebrow. "What can we do?"

"Larry's dead," Lee informed. "They chopped off Mark's legs and tried to feed them to us!"

"Shit!" Carley commented, disgusted. "Is everyone else okay?"

"They've still got Duck and Katjaa in the house." Lee whispered, "And I don't know where the fuck Kenny is!"

"All right, we're coming in to help; we'll be right with you."

"The main gate is too dangerous, go around the fence and see if there's a back way in. I'll keep looking for Kenny." He looked up. "Do you have a weapon?"

She pulled out an unloaded pistol before loading it with a full magazine. "I don't leave home without it." She joked, cocking the pistol in her hands. "Ben, stick close. And Lee…be careful." The two of them disappeared back into the maze-like crop field.

Lee crept over to the house, doing his best to tune out the constant rainfall and loud thunder.

Lee heard chatter inside the house once he passed the gate. "Something's up," a male voice said. Andy. "I'm gonna take the boy and check around back." _So they haven't caught Kenny yet,_ Lee realized.

"No, please, don't take my boy!" another voice said. It didn't take genius to figure out who that was.

"Let go woman."

"Settle down! I don't want to have to hurt y'all!" Brenda screamed.

As he got closer up to the house, a dark figure appeared in the screen door. "Andy? Danny, is that you? What's going on out there?" Brenda couldn't tell who it was. Lee didn't respond, instead choosing to act as if he hadn't heard her. "Oh God..." Lee then heard. The silhouette disappeared. Distant thunder sounded.

His presence was known now. No use in crouching. He stood to his feet, walking straight up to the door, slowly but surely. He heard shouting between the ladies inside. When he reached the screen door, Brenda warded him off with a gun in her hand pointed at Katjaa's head, which was directly underneath Brenda's, who was standing on the staircase.

"Get back! Don't come in here!" Brenda hissed, "You just HAD to go snopping around, didn't you?!"

"Let her go, Brenda!" he persuaded. He opened the door and walked in.

"Lee, please don't you take another step!" She aimed his gun at him.

"Brenda, come on, now, you know you don't want to do this."

She reseted Katjaa as her target and dragged her up one step. "Just go away and leave us be." Lee advanced three steps before Brenda raised her gun on him again. "Stay back!"

"Think of your husband, Brenda," Lee reasoned. "Would he have wanted this dairy turned into a... a slaughterhouse?!"

She backed up another step with Katjaa. "I'll kill her, Lee," she threatened, despite Katjaa's pleas.

A flash of lightning renewed Lee's hope. It really shouldn't have, because it lit up a depressing image, one that should never have happened. But, under the circumstances, he really couldn't have asked for anything better.

The lightning flash revealed Mark's walker body reaching for Brenda.

He was at the top of the staircase on the opposite side of the railing. If Brenda would back up far enough, Mark could kill her. Lee took two more steps forward.

Brenda raised her gun again. "Stay back! Don't do anything stupid."

"What happened, Brenda? Your family was obviously smart! How did it come to this?!"

Her face and arm wavered. "Just stop," she said weakly, taking another step up. Lee took three more steps forward. And again, her gun raised. "I don't want to kill you, Lee."

"This- this dairy was your pride!" Lee attempted the continued guilt trip. "Look what you've done to it!"

"Just stop!" she desperately yelled. The guilt trip was working.

Lee took three more steps forward, his left foot on the bottom step of the staircase. Brenda backed up farther on the staircase.

Right into Mark's waiting hands.

Brenda cried out and dropped Katjaa, who fell face first but caught herself with the staircase railing. Brenda, however, was not so lucky. Mark's teeth were inside of Brenda's throat, and were still chewing. Her revolver fired once before she died, the bullet knocking out one of the lights.

Katjaa corrected herself and jumped over to Lee. They had taken Duck away from her, and that would be their last mistake.

_One St. John left._

"They took Duck!" she told him, though he already knew. "Where's Kenny?!"

"I said don't move, asshole!" a farmer's voice said from outside.

"Don't you fucking hurt him!" Kenny shot back.

"Oh my god!" Katjaa commented and ran out the front door. Though it was definitely not the smart thing to do at the time, Lee ran out the front door with her, one step behind.

Kenny and Andy were both outside, the latter holding a rifle and aiming at the back of Duck's head. Lee couldn't quite tell the difference between Duck's tears and the raindrops, but he could definitely hear the moaning.

"That ain't gonna happen!" Andy asserted.

Andy was growing impatient, and pretty soon he'd start shooting. He needed to be calmed instead of starved for death. Waiting for Carley was not an option with Duck's life on the line, and Lilly couldn't be depended upon at the moment. Nobody else had a gun. Kenny usually wasn't even tempered, and the fact that the man who needed to be talked down had been holding his family hostage for the past few hours wasn't going to help matters. That left Lee.

"Andy, don't," he said with his hands up. He fell into place next to Kenny. Should it come down to it, they could both charge at the same time. The weapon Andy was holding was bolt action, and he could only hit one of them, but there was no guarantee he wouldn't just blow Duck's head off.

"SHUT UP!" Andy ordered, pointing his gun at Lee.

In a brazen act of stupidity, Kenny charged the man without waiting to form a plan. As a result, he received a hunting caliber bullet in his side. He fell over to his left and Katjaa arrived to tend to him a moment later. His son called out for him.

Lee looked at Andy in rage, but needed to change his facial expression to avoid further shooting. "Andy," he called.

"Who the fuck do you people think you are?" Andy questioned. Lightning flashed behind him. "Look at what you've done!"

"Calm down," Lee attempted, edging closer to Andy.

"Calm down?" Andy mocked. "What for, huh? All we wanted was some goddamn gasoline!"

Gunshot. A bullet tore through Andy's left ear and he released Duck. Lee turned to see Carley pointing her gun at the farmer. She obviously didn't hit her mark- his head- though that could be blamed on an inconvenient flash of lightning at that very moment.

This was his chance. He charged Andy as Duck ran out of the way, mostly to get to his wounded father. Andy aimed his gun at Lee, but Lee was already upon him, grabbing both ends of the gun and trying to gain control of it.

Lee felt his grip on the gun weakening. _This fucker nearly broke Clementine's neck with by pulling her hair_! he thought angrily. He stopped pulling on the gun and instead pushed it into Andy's face, drawing blood from his mouth. Andy then pulled the gun to the side, and both of them tumbled down the hill and through the picket fence.

Lee worked his way up, pushing off of his knee like he had so many times-

Andy ran over and kneed him in the side of the head, knocking him flat on his back. From his darkened vision, he could see that he no longer had the gun, but he couldn't see where it was now. What he could see was Andy activating the generator.

Lee knew that the generator wouldn't last long; it would burn out without the belt- which Lee still had- and be destroyed by this storm. It would breakdown before long, and when that happened, the electric fence would never work again unless a new generator was found. Not that Lee intended to stay here for long.

Andy walked over to him and grabbed the back of his collar. "Get up," he commanded. "Get the fuck up!" Lee grunted as the grip around his jacket pulled him backwards. He futilely punched Andy's stomach while being dragged, but couldn't get leverage to cause any real damage.

Andy stopped pulling at the fence, flipped Lee over, and tried driving Lee's face into the lower wire of the electric fence. Lee resisted, and pushed back, but he was losing this struggle. Right before his face impacted the wire, he noticed Lilly and Clementine outside of the barn.

"Lilly! Help!" Lilly looked down at the rifle in her hands. She didn't raise it. Clementine looked up at her, wondering what she was doing.

Well, at least if he couldn't be thankful for her not shooting Andy, he could at least be grateful for her appearance. When she had appeared with the rifle in her hands, it had distracted his aggressor. Whether he recognized the gun as Danny's or was just afraid Lilly would shoot, Lee did not know, but he was still able to take advantage. He pushed off of the ground and elbowed Andy in the face. He fell to the ground, and Lee went right into a mounting position.

He threw a barrage of left hand punches to Andy's face- who didn't offer any resistance- before switching hands. He wasn't sure why he kept using his left hand for so long, since he was right handed, but his fighting instincts were keeping him alive right now, so he didn't question his own methods. With his right hand, Lee knocked out his front teeth, then went back to his left. On one of the punches, Lee could distinctly feel a crack in the farmer's skull, evident by the melted appearance to the right side of Andy's face, the result of all of the left hand punches.

_Tyler. It could have been Tyler that had come to this farm two weeks ago._ Lee punched Andy again. _Just asking for directions_. Lee could see it in his mind. Lee punched Andy again. _They would invite him in, offering food and a place to stay. Then they would cut him into pieces and eat him._ Lee punched Andy again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Lee heard footsteps from his right. "Lee," Carley's voice said. "That's enough."

Lee raised his left fist to punch again, but stopped when he realized there was no point anymore. Andy was missing teeth, one eye swollen shut, the other all red from the blood leaking in, bruises spattered his face, and his left ear wasn't pretty. On top of all that, his head looked like it was melting in the rain.

Lee wiped his brow with his wet jacket sleeve. Then he stood up and followed Carley back to the other survivors at the gate, hunched forward from the exertion.

"Is that all ya got, Lee?" came a slurred voice. "You ain't shit!"

Lee turned back to Andy. "It's over!" he bellowed.

"Fuck you," he responded, sitting up. "As soon as Dan and Mama get out here, you're all fucked!" He regained his feet, though it was clear he wasn't able to walk based on his slumped appearance.

_Fine_, he thought. _Let him think that._ He turned and walked back over to join Carley. "Don't you _dare_ walk away from me, Lee!" Lee heard a splash from behind him as he continued to leave. "LEE..." Andy tried to yell, but was too damaged to do so. "Get back here and finish this, Lee!"

Lee stopped. He turned to face Andy, who was down on his knees. He took one step towards Andy. _This is for Tyler,_ he angrily thought.

But...

He turned back to the group, Clementine at the forefront. She was scared. There was no need for him to kill Andy. Leaving him here all alone would have the same effect, and Clementine wouldn't have to watch.

Lee shook his head. It might not have even been Tyler, or if it was, Andy might have been honest when saying he had just left. He wasn't going to kill a man based on assumptions.

He continued walking.

"Get back here and fight me like a man, Lee! Lee!" Lee noticed the light bulb go out on the electric fence.

"They're getting in," Clementine pointed out.

Andrew St. John feebly shouted for Lee one last time, but was paid no heed as Lee just walked past his whole group out of the gate, simply saying "Let's go" before grabbing the gun that he had used on Andy's face before.

Lee heard one last bolt of thunder before the rain stopped in earnest.

* * *

><p>They traveled on the road toward their camp. Walking through the drizzle, not a zombie in sight.<p>

Everyone, even poor, poor Duck, who ate the most out of Mark, knew enough to stay out of Lee's way. They all knew enough to respect him for saving them all. They all knew that he would have beaten Andy to death if not for Carley. They all knew that he was still angry.

They all knew he was one dangerous motherfucker with a hunting rifle.

"Hey, Lee," Carley said, surprising him by coming up beside him and actually speaking, "I'd say I'm sorry for leaving the motel unattended, but ya know."

"I'm glad you showed up when you did," Lee responded. "If you hadn't taken that shot at Andy, we might not have gotten out of there."

"Were they really killing people... For food?" Carley asked.

"Yeah, and Clementine almost ate some."

"But?..."

"I stopped her." Lee slowed to a halt. "I can't leave her alone, Carley. This fucking world, now. It's hiding just, unspeakable shit at every turn."

Carley changed the subject. "Katjaa managed to grab this while she was in the house. She said it was with your stuff." Ben passed them on the road.

"Yeah. I found it when I was looking for the people who shot Mark." Lee paused, realizing Carley hadn't known Mark had been shot. Before she could question him about it, he spoke up again. "Do you want it?"

"Why don't you keep it? Sometimes it helps to have something you can document your thoughts on."

Lee walked over to Kenny, who was bending over to no longer have to support his wound. "Hon, go on ahead and give me and Lee a second?" Katjaa walked over to Carley. Kenny tapped Duck on the shoulder and he followed his mother.

He gazed at Lee with a serious gesture. "There's gonna be fallout," he said simply.

"For killing Lilly's dad?" Lee guessed. "Yeah, I would imagine so."

"What do ya think?"

"I'm with you, Kenny. We'll do what has to be done." Their partnership was now absolutely necessary, since being against each other would put half of the group against the other half; Kenny and his family on one side, Lee, Clementine and Carley on the other. Not that Lee had anything against Kenny anyway, but still, with Lilly against them all, they couldn't afford anymore infighting.

That would be the end of them all.

"You're damn right. Listen, that RV back at the motor inn is just about ready to roll. I want you to come with us. I mean it."

"Okay, yeah," Lee agreed quickly. With Larry dead, there was no real reason to stay near Macon anymore. Kenny walked off to rejoin the group.

Clementine walked up to Lee. Lee noticed with dissatisfaction that there was nobody behind her. He'd have words with Lilly about that, but now was not the time. "Lee..." she began. "Are those people dead?"

"Yes... Walkers probably got to 'em," he answered honestly. She had been lied to for so long by the St. John's. Unfortunately, cold, hard reality was what she needed to hear. "They were very bad people and were punished for it."

"Hey, dad," Duck called out softly, "what's that noise?"

They listened. "Sounds like a car..." Kenny observed. He walked up to the front of the group.

"Oh, God... not more strangers." Ben said.

Lee joined Kenny at the front and grabbed the rifle he had taken from Andy in both hands. He crouched down behind a log and saw a parked car with the lights on and doors open. Kenny knelt behind a large rock.

"Come out or I'll shoot!" Lee warned. He wasn't in the mood for bullshit at the moment.

"Okay, okay," came a high pitched voice. "I'm sorry, just please don't shoot."

"You're surrounded!" Kenny shouted. "Come on out."

No response came, so Lee crept over to the side of the car, which was a station wagon. He put his back to the trunk and raised his gun in front of him. He nodded to Kenny, who nodded back, and Lee jumped around the side of the vehicle.

He came face to face with a grenade held by two hands: one fingering the pin, the other gripping its base.

"Drop the gun," a boy said, his lower face concealed by a mask, but Lee could still see the piercing brown eyes. His voice was much deeper now. "Or I'll... Dad?"

"Huh?" Lee asked. _Tyler?_ Was this Tyler? He was certainly tall enough to be Tyler, his height matching Lee's chin.

The boy with the grenade pulled one hand back to lower his mask. It revealed a square jaw, a small nose, no dimples and a light smile. He lowered the grenade. "Dad!" Tyler shouted in joy and threw his arms around Lee. Lee dropped his rifle to the ground and returned the embrace.

Lee knelt down and felt tears on his cheeks. He allowed himself to fall backwards, Tyler right on top of him, and closed his eyes. He let out a few cries of relief. "Oh, Tyler. Oh," was all he could manage through the crying.

_My son is alive!_

Lee heard footsteps get louder and louder, but it could have been Andy back for revenge for all he cared. Lee having Tyler again for just one second would have been worth getting shot right then and there.

Lee opened his eyes and saw Kenny standing there with a smile on his face. Lee returned the smile and closed his eyes again, enjoying the moment.

"Oh crap," came Kenny's voice. At first Lee thought he was talking about Tyler, but Lee sensed there was something else. Lee opened his eyes and gently pushed Tyler off. "Baby, you gotta see this!" Lee stood up and found Kenny hunched over the trunk of the station wagon, and saw what he saw. "There is a shitload of food and supplies back here!"

Everyone else approached and Tyler allowed himself to be seen. Lilly raised her rifle at him. "Who the fuck is this!?"

Lee stepped in front of Tyler. "Easy, Lilly. This is Tyler," Lee introduced. "He's my son."

Lilly didn't lower her gun. Kenny stepped in front of her. The two held a stare off until Lilly looked away and stopped aiming at Lee. Clementine ran over and hugged Lee.

"Hello there," Tyler said to Clementine. _He had always been great around younger kids. _Lee had always liked to think the same of himself. He thought he was great with kids, but as a college professor, he had come across several displeased students who would write him angry letters or complain to their parents."I'm Tyler. What's your name?"

"Clementine," the little girl said. She gave Tyler a hug too. This was the first time Lee had ever seen her greet someone for the first time without hiding behind him.

The rest of the group joined them at the car, Lilly at the back, not bothering to look at what Kenny was seeing. Duck joined his dad at the trunk, and eagerly placed his hands on the car.

"This food could save all of us," Katjaa remarked.

"Not all of us," Lilly said quietly. Kenny just sighed in response.

"Look," Ben spoke up. "We don't know if these people are dead."

Lilly took his side, both literally and figuratively. "If they come back, then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives."

"This stuff isn't ours," Clementine pointed out, still standing next to Tyler. She looked up at him, giving him a quizzical look. Tyler shook his head, as if to say "it's not my car."

Distant thunder rumbled. "Dad, whose car is it?" Duck asked.

"Don't worry about that Duck, it's ours' now."

"It's abandoned, Ducky," Katjaa chimed in. "Don't worry."

"What if it's not?" Clementine asked. Everyone looked at her. "What if it's not abandoned? What if it IS someone's?"

"Tyler," Lee said. "How long have you been here?"

"About five minutes," he responded.

Not enough time to determine whether or not they could be dead. But still, they were starving. The food they had wouldn't last the week, even with a net change of one less person. This food would keep them all alive for a while.

Lee knelt down beside Clementine. "We have to take this, Clementine," Lee explained carefully. "We need it to survive."

"Who says it's your decision to make?" Lilly asked, walking toward him.

Tyler faced her. "How about we let the majority reach a decision?"

"How about we let the adults talk?"

Tyler bit his upper lip and clenched his fists.

"Hey, we don't have time for this shit," Kenny said. "Like it or not, we NEED this food. Now get over here and open the trunk, Lee."

Lee stood up and glanced at Lilly, who turned away from his eyes.

"Why don't we just take the car?" Tyler asked Lee.

Kenny answered for him. "There ain't enough room in there for all of us. I ain't leaving anyone else behind at night."

Lee walked over to the trunk. He pulled on the tailgate, but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

"I've got the keys," Tyler said, holding them up. Clementine stood next to him, despondent. He tossed the jingling keys to Lee, and Lee in turn used it to open the trunk.

He pulled down the tailgate latch, and looked inside. "More food in here," he commented, as he pulled a box of supplies leaning against the car wall. He pulled it out and handed it to Tyler. He accepted it gratefully, and went back over to Clementine. "Supplies." He pulled out a second box.

"I'll take it," Katjaa said, probably because it was filled with medicine. She took the box and went over to Kenny.

Lee looked back inside the car, and there were still plenty of boxes left. "Great. Maybe we'll survive this after all." He pulled a small, rectangular box out. "Duck, why don't you carry this?"

"Okay." He accepted the box, though Lee could tell it was heavy for him. He went back over to his parents.

"I've got a box of food here..." Lee announced as he pulled out the largest box he could find. He turned, not knowing who to give it to.

"I'll carry it," Ben offered. Lee handed the supplies off.

He then turned back to the inside of the car. He found a red hoodie with the word "Brooklyn" written on it. "This hoodie looks to be about your size," he said, talking to Clementine. "Why don't you hold on to this? It might get cold."

"It's not mine," she stated simply.

_Oh, Clementine,_ Lee thought. _So sweet and innocent and idealistic._ "We're not like the bandits, honey. We didn't hurt anybody to get this," Lee persuaded. "Understand?"

"I guess so." She took it from him, but didn't put it on.

He went back over to the trunk and found it empty. He looked at Kenny, who had several boxes on the ground near him. _Figures_, he thought. He went over to Tyler. Thankfully, he wasn't biting his lip anymore. "Hey, Tyler," he greeted playfully. "Where did you get that grenade?"

"Grenade?" Duck asked, excited. He started to run over, but his mom held him back.

"I went down to Grandma and Grandpa's drugstore, looking for you," Tyler answered. "There was a crashed helicopter in the roof. I climbed up there and found some military equipment." He pulled out the grenade and showed it to Lee. "I also have a survival knife and a handgun, but I'm out of bullets."

"You, uh, know how to shoot?" Lee asked skeptically.

"Kind of. I haven't exactly found the time nor the ammo to practice, but I'm pretty sure I know how."

"Well, maybe Carley can teach you," Lee said.

"Who's Carley?"

She walked over to him immediately after he said that. "Hey. There were some batteries in one of those boxes. I thought they might work in your camcorder." She looked at the youngest of the group. "Here, you can have some too... for your walkie talkie."

"Batteries, huh?" Lee asked jokingly as Clementine accepted the batteries. "Think you can handle those?" he asked, referring to a flashlight that Carley had found in Mark's supplies when they had first met him. It had had no batteries in it, and when he'd given her batteries, she didn't know how to install them.

"You're not gonna let me live that down, are you?" She handed over the batteries. Lee smiled and took them, putting them in his camcorder, then handing the camcorder to Carley.

He walked over to Clementine, who had finally put on the hoodie and was inspecting the batteries, trying to decide whether or not they would fit. He knelt down beside her. "Hey there, sweet pea. How do you like Tyler?"

"He's nice. I like him," she responded quickly.

"Thanks, honey." He paused. "Hey, listen. Tyler isn't bad, but if you ever see him biting his lip, just come and get me, okay?"

"Why?" Clementine asked.

"Just so he doesn't eat himself," Lee joked. He then realized that that joke was no longer funny. Not after meeting the St. John's. "Sorry. I mean so he doesn't accidentally scream."

"Okay," she responded. Although he hadn't directly said it, she took the implication. Tyler had anger issues.

Well, not anger issues, really. His psychologists defined it as anger management problems. Tyler really wasn't bad, but sometimes he shook visibly and accidentally swung his arm out, and that arm would hit someone. He had spasms whenever this happened. He sometimes got angry over past mistakes, sometimes for almost no reason, but he never wanted to hurt anyone. He always had a noticeable sign of his anger returning.

At least not since he had last seen Tyler. He couldn't guess what Tyler had seen these past three months. Hell, Lee would never have thought about people being cannibals or bandits until today.

"Just come get me if he's chewing on his lip."

"Okey-dokey."

"Oh god," Carley said from beside Lee. He turned towards her. "Lee. You're gonna want to see this..."

* * *

><p>Lee's suspicions were confirmed by what he saw on the camcorder. That woman from the bandit camp, Jolene, had used this recording device to stalk Clementine. And at the end of the video that Jolene had taken, she was talking to herself about the bandits and the dairy. Lee distinctly remembered the words.<p>

"Don't worry, little girl. Bandits got their eye on that dairy. As long as they keep getting food from them, you'll be safe.

"I promise."

The bandits definitely knew of them.

* * *

><p>Lee awoke to small hands shaking him.<p>

He opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light before turning his head to see Clementine in his room. He sat up, looking down at her. She looked anxious.

"Clementine," he said tiredly. "Is everything okay?" She said something he couldn't hear, so Lee stood up. "What?"

"Tyler's biting his lip."

Well, he had told her to get him if Tyler had started doing that. That had been two weeks ago.

Two weeks, and a station wagon's worth of supplies later.

Since then, most people had taken a quick liking to Tyler. Pretty much everyone but Lilly. Carley had even started teaching him how to shoot. Kenny and his family had treated him like they did Clementine, and Ben had even requested that Tyler be put into the lookout rotation with him. Lee had disagreed at first, but, like it or not, they needed people who could shoot on lookout.

"What time is it?" Lee asked her.

"It's nighttime," she responded. She held a flashlight in her hands, which he noted casually.

"All right. I'll go find him." Stay here, he would've said, but he didn't want her to start fearing Tyler.

He slipped out of the door, finding Carley on watch and Ben walking around a corner with a flashlight. He gave her a thumbs up, to which she returned with a smile. She looked pretty, sitting atop that RV...

Lee shook his head. He hadn't come out here to admire Carley. He walked past the couch near the gate and found Tyler near the barrels Clementine used to play soccer on when Duck and Tyler weren't in the mood. He was sitting down with his back to the metal surfaces.

He was biting his upper lip.

"Hey, Tyler," Lee began.

"You know where Mom is?" he asked suddenly.

"I think she's in Virginia," Lee blurted out. He probably shouldn't have started speaking about her.

"Ya know, right before your trial, she called me," Tyler said. "I didn't want listen, but I had to. Maybe she was going to come."

"Are you okay?" Lee asked, feeling ignored.

"She called to say that she had cancer."

Lee didn't know what to say to that. Ashley had cancer? She was thirty-five.

"I said that I didn't care," Tyler said. "That I was glad."

Lee stared at Tyler. "Why?"

"I don't know!" he said angrily. _Ah, _Lee thought. _He's upset about his last words to his mother. _"I... I just couldn't... I just couldn't talk to her anymore. I blamed her."

"Son," Lee soothed, "you didn't mean what you said. I'm sure that she knows that."

"How do you know?" Tyler asked. "If you really knew her, you would've known what she was doing while you were away."

That hurt Lee more than he cared to admit, but it seemed to pain Tyler that he had just said that. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

"I know. And she does too," Lee reassured.

"It's just... I can't believe that my last words to her were that I didn't care about her anymore."

Lee sat down next to Tyler, against the same barrel. He pulled his son into a hug, to which Tyler returned. They hadn't hugged since they had found each other. Lee made a mental note to do that more often.

"Your mom loved you, even if she didn't show it sometimes. She knows you loved her, too. I... still love her," he said reluctantly. "But I can't change the fact that she's far away-"

"Possibly dead," Tyler interjected, muffled by Lee's chest.

"Yes. Possibly dead. And I learned that I needed to move on. If there's one good thing that the apocalypse has done for me, it's meeting Clementine."

Tyler looked up at him. "What-"

"If there's one great thing that the apocalypse has done for me, it's let me hold my son again," Lee stated.

Tyler smiled, and put his head back down against his father's chest. Lee heard a faint noise from where Ben had gone, but didn't investigate. He was too busy comforting Tyler. "Hey, what were you and Clementine doing up this late?" he asked.

"Nothing," Tyler replied quickly.

"Really?" Lee said, smiling.

"Alright, alright. She asked me to show her how to use a knife."

Lee's expression darkened. "What?"

"Gotcha," Tyler announced. "No, she just came outside to play soccer and found me here."

"At this hour?" Lee asked skeptically.

"Well, I'm assuming that's why she walked over here, but I don't really know."

"Well, please don't try to teach her knife fighting," Lee requested.

"I wasn't planning on it." Tyler paused. "Funny thing, Dad. I, uh, I'm actually a pretty good knife fighter. Didn't know that."

_Pretty good knife fighter? Does that mean..?_ "Tyler, have you killed anyone since this all started?"

"A bunch of deadies."

"Anyone alive?" Lee asked specifically.

Tyler didn't respond. "Tyler," he asked more forcefully.

Tyler shook himself out of the hug and stood up. "Yes," he said simply, and walked away.

Lee just sat there. He covered his eyes with his hands. He had hoped that Tyler would never have had to hurt anyone, but it was already too late for that. Who had Tyler killed? A little boy that had caught him in a bad mood? A psychopath that had tried to kill him? And where did this knife fighting come from?

Lee tried to stand up, but couldn't find the strength to. Tyler's words still stung him. Had he ever really known Ashley? He hadn't, or at least, hadn't known about her affairs. He knew everything else about her, right?

Secrets were what destroyed relationships. Her secret had ruined theirs. _Maybe I should confess, _Lee thought. But no, there was no reason to. Only Carley and Tyler really knew, with Larry dead. He could safely trust them both with his secret. Nobody else needed to know.

Right?

Lee finally stood up, but strangely wasn't tired. _Might as well make the best of it_. He walked over to the RV, and climbed on top of it. According to Kenny, it would be ready to go within the week.

"Hey, Carley," he said in a tone that would indicate that he was tired, even though he wasn't. There were two lawn chairs upon the roof of the vehicle. Carley occupied one, so Lee took the other.

"Hey," she returned, sounding exhausted herself. Her current demeanor belied her true personality: if danger arose in any form, she would immediately become alert. _Who needs coffee anyway? _Lee joked silently.

"Have you seen Ben?" Lee asked.

"No, should I have?"

"I thought I saw him over there," he said, pointing towards the ice maker.

"I didn't see anyone."

He sighed. "It doesn't matter. Why don't you just go to bed?"

"Cause I've got watch." Those words sounded bitter.

"I can take it from here," Lee promised.

"I'm not going to sleep. I can't sleep. Sleep is torture these days."

"What's wrong?" Lee asked. She didn't respond. "Carley?" She closed her eyes, so Lee just let the matter drop. "It was an accident, you know."

She opened her eyes. "What was?"

"The senator. I never meant to kill him. It just happened. It ruined my life."

"Good thing everyone else's was ruined shortly thereafter," she joked.

"I've always wanted to go back and erase that moment, so that I wouldn't have killed him," Lee confessed.

She pulled out her handgun, giving Lee a momentary spike of panic. "And I've always wanted to go back to the time I learned how to use this so I could learn better."

Lee knew of Carley's past before the apocalypse, at least in the form that she had described. She, acting as the WABE correspondent for international affairs on live television, she had been to several foreign countries, a few of them hostile to her. During her travels, she had once spent a short time learning how to constantly move to survive. She had taught herself hoe to shoot firearms in order to protect herself, but she had never actually had to pull the trigger on a living target in those times.

She had been lucky that she had been able to hold off on that for the first three months of the infection.

"You're the best shooter of the group," Lee complimented.

"And what else do I have going for me?" she said bitterly, handing Lee the gun. He made sure the safety hammer was engaged before putting it in the back of the waistband of his pants.

"You're the prettiest."

Carley looked at him and smiled. "Great. I stand out the most."

"That's not always a bad thing," Lee pointed out.

They stared at each other for a few moments. What was Carley? A war news reporter for the radio? A woman who had learned how to shoot before it became a required skill? Carley was a kind, wonderful woman who did everything in her power and more to keep her friends safe. A selfless caretaker who would rather have the children eat than her if there wasn't enough food to go around. A mediator who despised Kenny and Lilly's conflicts and consistently sought to end them.

A woman with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

She looked away, taking her brown eyes off of him. "Okay. I'll go to bed." She stood up. Lee watched her leave, noticing Clementine walking back to her room.

"Wait," Lee requested. Carley stopped on the ladder.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you about something?" Lee asked.

Carley smiled. "Of course. I'm a reporter, remember?"

"Yeah, just don't broadcast my story."

"No promises." She got back up upon the RV and sat down in her lawn chair. "What do you need?"

Lee hesitated. Was this really the best time? Was Carley the best person to tell this to? He wasn't just going to wake up Lilly or Kenny for this.

"Tyler... He- he just told me something I wish he hadn't." Carley's smile dropped, as if this weren't what she wanted to hear. She nodded for him to continue. "He said he killed someone."

He expected some fucking cliché about "like father like son," or "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." All he got was silence. "Anything to say?" Lee asked after a short minute of nothing from her.

"What is there to say?" Carley asked. "Who was it?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me."

"Well, maybe you should find out who and why. That might help."

"Yeah, it might," Lee agreed. "I just- I had hoped that the horrors of this world wouldn't have gotten to him."

"Well, it's like you said. 'This world. It's hiding just, unspeakable shit at every turn.'" Carley paused. "I wouldn't be surprised if the person he killed deserved it. Tyler's a good boy."

"I hope so." Lee looked down at his hands. Carley looked like she wanted to say more, but she yawned instead. "Just go to bed, Carley. I've got this."

She lingered for a moment. "'Kay." She climbed down the ladder and went back to her room, which was, ironically, Irene's old room. She had even volunteered to take that room after Lilly had removed the corpses from across the motel's grounds. Lee never understood why.

Lee stared quietly at where he thought he had seen Ben, but nothing moved. Either Ben was trying not to be seen, or Lee had just imagined it.

He gambled on the latter, and decided to just let his mind drift to who Tyler could have killed.


	3. Long Road Ahead

**The following chapter selectively observes the viewpoints of the following characters: Lee.**

**Please note where the perspective shifts from one character to another, as the perspective changes will not be specifically listed.**

* * *

><p>Lee and Kenny carried their guns in their hands as they charged through the desolate streets of Macon. Kenny held an emptied backpack over his shoulders and a pistol in his left hand. Lee carried the scoped rifle Lilly had given him.<p>

Ever since their encounter with the St. John's- a family of cannibals from the dairy farm- and Tyler being reunited with Lee, Lilly had declared an end to hunting trips, now that Kenny and Lee were the only ones who could do it. Her reasoning had been that they needed more supplies from Macon, now that the bandits knew of the St. John's deaths, but Lee suspected that she secretly wanted Kenny to get killed in the former sprawling town of Macon. For the past three weeks, it had been consecutive supply runs to a building in the woods that Kenny had conveniently found that same day they had met Ben, those cannibals and the bandits. Luckily, Lilly had relented and allowed supply runs there.

That wooden building in the forest had just run out of supplies the day before, and now they were forced to go on a supply run to Macon. "Macon has what we need," Lilly had proclaimed. _So here we are._

Lee hustled over to an alley corner and crouched behind it, preparing his rifle for any dangers he might face. Kenny fell into position behind him, and Lee rounded the corner, gun raised.

_Clear_, he thought.

"Looks like this is our lucky day," Kenny said.

"Maybe, they tend to take us by surprise," Lee said.

"Yeah, well the less I see, the happier I am." They walked some more down the unkempt road. "Lee, where do you come down on stayin' or goin'?"

"You mean packing up the motel and getting in the RV?"

"Yeah. We've been talking about it, but you made up your mind yet?"

Lee sighed. "We should go. The motel's run it's course and it's not safe."

"You're damn right it has," Kenny said. "We pile into the RV and don't pull over 'til we see water. And if Lilly's deadset on staying, well, then, that's the way it goes."

They reached the Everett drugstore, The very place they had met Lilly. The site of Lee's family's death. He still remembered a hasty farewell to his undead brother before putting him down.

Kenny took a quick examination of their surroundings. "Over the rig, into the pharmacy and scrape together whatever supplies are left." When Kenny climbed the ladder of the rig, the nails broke and the ladder collapsed once he reached the top. "Shit!"

"You okay?" Lee asked.

"The ladder's come loose."

_I noticed_, he thought. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Think we'll find anything?" Lee asked. "Ain't much in there."

"We'll see," Kenny said. "Station wagon stuff's not gonna last as long as we thought. If we'd hit the road like I suggested, we wouldn't be in this situation."

_Stop talking about that, please._ "I'm comin' up."

"Ladder's right there."

Lee walked over to the limp ladder and pulled on the lower lag to test its strength. It came free with barely a tug. Lee, frustrated, casted it aside. "Looks like she's had it," Lee said.

"What now?" Kenny said.

"I'll find another way up," Lee answered.

"Better get a move-on," Kenny suggested. Lee walked around the area in front of his parent's drugstore. He briefly considered climbing up onto a wrecked car that had crashed into the truck, but clearly saw that Kenny wouldn't be able to reach him from that spot due to a missing piece of the trailer's roof.

Lee found a military jeep buried under some rubble. _Rubble_? Lee thought. _Where did that come from?_ Lee looked up and found his answer in a crashed gunship that had pelted the roof and Everett sign. _Right_, he said mentally. Tyler mentioned a crashed military helicopter on top of the building. How Tyler had climbed up there was a mystery, though.

Still, the sight was saddening to him. His parents had been wonderful people who would never hurt anybody without cause, despite Lee's words to Clementine about his dad using a walking cane to beat up shoplifters. That had been a joke, but he couldn't help but feel like there had to be some cause of their deaths.

_That's stupid and you know it_, he cursed in his mind. He had been doing that more, recently: cursing himself for his failures. Or just cursing himself in general.

Lee discovered that the jeep had flat tires, so it couldn't be moved that easily. While turning away, his eyes caught something shiny on the bumpers of the jeep. A winch. He went over to it and pulled on the wired hook.

"Lilly's not doin' so good, huh," Kenny said.

"Well, we killed her dad," Lee said, straining to pull the winch's wire. He made it to the trailer after a few seconds and planted the winch between the tires and onto the engine bar.

"We did kill her dad," Kenny repeated. Lee walked back over to the jeep and flipped the switch for the winch control. "Your girl still upset with you for agreeing to take that stuff from the station wagon?"

"Tyler said he explained it to her."

"Well that's good," Kenny said. "Let the kids talk it out." Lee couldn't tell if that was sarcastic or not. Kenny paused. "Duck was asking about that guy at Hershel's farm last night."

The jeep hit the truck, though it wasn't loud enough for any hidden walkers to hear. "Really? I wasn't sure it phased him." Lee then realized that humor was not the appropriate response to that statement.

"Of course it did."

"He'll get over it. Hershel's son is one of how many, now? We've all seen a lot worse." _What the fuck is wrong with me?_ Lee cursed himself again.

"He's a tough kid, ya know. Like I said, not much phases him, but it's startin' to add up. The farm, the diary... I need to get him to the coast. Get him out of all this madness." Kenny looked down.

Lee hopped up upon the jeep he had moved. Kenny extended his arm, now able to reach Lee.

"You sure you're up for this?" He didn't exactly know how old Kenny was, but he had a feeling that the graying hair meant older than forty-five.

"Lee, I'm fine. I've got this. Gimme your hand."

Lee put his left hand into Kenny's right and pulled as Kenny did the same. Abruptly, Kenny released his grip and clutched his side.

"Shit!" Lee exclaimed as he toppled backwards. His head cracked the glass windshield of the vehicle he'd used to climb up. Both he and Kenny froze, looking around to see if any walkers had heard. None appeared. He shook off the blow. "Nice one. Next time, I'm bringing Ben! Help me get up."

Suddenly, a woman crashed through the doors nearby. She was screaming her head off, hoping for a savior to appear. At least seven walkers appeared all around her, obviously what she was screaming about. "What the-what the hell is that!? A walker?!" Kenny asked.

"Walkers don't scream! Do they?" Lee answered.

"Jesus! I don't think so."

"It's a girl!" Lee said, aiming down the scope of the rifle. She fell down, but picked herself back up before any of them could grab her. "She's gonna get us killed!"

"No shit...actually..." Kenny had a ponderous look on his face.

One of the zombies fell down like the screamer did before, but didn't pick itself up. It reached its hands out instead, and firmly pulled against her leg until the skin met its teeth. The woman fell down and her screaming reached a new high.

"Fuck, we gotta shoot her. Put her out of this misery," Lee said to Kenny.

"They don't know we're here," Kenny brought up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we leave her alive and she draws them all to her, buying us time. Think about it! We're always worried about the ones we can't see: she stays alive and draws them out of their holes."

_I thought you were the one that's happier with nothing in view_, Lee grumbled internally. He aimed down his sights toward the woman down the road from him. He saw her on her feet as she was bitten yet again by a different zombie.

He briefly considered shooting the zombies, but wrote the idea off after realizing that it would just bring more to eat her and them. Shooting her just wasn't right, because she might not have wanted that. Her sacrifice would at least help him. "Okay, you're right." Lee slung his rifle over his shoulder and extended his left hand to meet Kenny's right again. This time, Kenny actually pulled him up without any problems.

Lee followed Kenny to the back alley of his parents' drugstore and went inside after opening the door to the office. Kenny followed shortly and Lee silently closed the door behind the Floridian and looked around the office. He noticed a emergency kit it on the counter, but it was empty. Kenny opened the pharmacy door and strolled inside.

Lee followed shortly after keeping his ear to the door to listen for approaching walkers. Unfortunately, he did hear some growling getting closer, but he couldn't tell who they were after. The woman was still screaming outside.

"We should be good to clear this place out, but we ain't got all day," Kenny stated loudly. "Get everything out of these racks. I'll clear down here and then we gotta go!"

Lee cleaned out the supplies on the stand below him, easily taking ten packages within a minute. He shifted to his right, crouching down to empty out a cardboard box with a few supplies in it. He pulled out two tiny containers before the screams stopped.

He glanced at Kenny, who was picking out food from a shelf above the counter. "She's gone," Kenny said without turning. "There's not much time now."

Not a second passed after Kenny said that when the zombies were banging on the inside of the office door. How they had heard Lee's motions and how long they had been there he did not know, but he didn't have enough time to find out. He retrieved the remaining four packages from the box and placed them in the backpack Kenny had left on the floor next to him. His area clear, he again shifted over to the counter, where a few meager foodstuffs lay waiting for him to pick up. And pick them up he did.

"I think that's everything!" Lee informed Kenny. He handed the backpack to the older man.

"That girl didn't die for nothin' then. Up and over." He slid over the narrow gap between the pharmacy area and main drugstore lobby. Lee followed suit after Kenny had moved out of the area. "We're still clear, let's hustle."

The office door to the main drugstore fell over on top of Lee. He could feel the walkers above him on top of the door. "Kenny! HELP!"

Kenny ran over to Lee's side and placed his hands under the door. With the added muscle, Lee and Kenny were able to remove the door from the former's body. Lee lightly placed it down to his left.

"FRIDGE!" Kenny yelled, referring to the broken refrigerator to Lee's right. He pushed it down in front of the door, barring any more zombies from pushing through from the office and even killing one that was in its way when it toppled over.

_Doug_, he realized. The weird, dorky guy he had met in those first few days. He thought he should have felt sad over this, that he had just "put down" a friend, but the truth was, he really never had time to develop a friendship with Doug.

"Out! Let's fucking get out!" Kenny ordered, firing upon the walkers as they came from the counter they had previously jumped over. Kenny spun and ran for the far wall, then turned around, waiting for Lee. A true friend.

Lee unslung the rifle from his shoulder, knowing he would need it to defend himself-

He noticed a large crack in the wall next to Kenny, and a walker was reaching through it. He pointed his rifle at its head and fired. The bullet entered its skull and it fell down next to Kenny, who had just noticed it. He looked at Lee in appreciation.

"Let's go, pal." Kenny slipped through that same crack that the walker had just fallen through. Lee followed suit, dodging a particularly ugly zombie in Air Force pilot's uniform and a radio headset still over his eyes.

* * *

><p>"You're back," Clementine said, running up to him. Her smile was like the sunshine itself. "Ben found some stickers in a drawer and I put 'em on my walkie!" She held up her broken walkie talkie, with a few flower stickers pasted on the front.<p>

Lee looked down at the little girl with a smile. Clementine always had that effect on him; making him smile. He had just returned from his perilous journey, nearly getting killed underneath a door. If Kenny hadn't been there, or if he had even hesitated, that little girl in front of him wouldn't be smiling right now. She'd be crying in a corner right now.

_Damn it, Lee_, Lee cursed himself again. _You nearly died early, and you're concerned how a little girl would take your death over how Tyler would._

"Hey sweet pea." It took all of his willpower to keep that smile on his face. "That's neat, I'll find you in a minute."

Lee caught up to Kenny- who was at Lilly's door- and shared a knowing look towards Ben and Tyler sitting atop the RV. Lee knocked on the door.

The door opened. "Looks like we got the kids on watch again," Kenny greeted gruffly.

"What'd you get?" Lilly asked.

Lee traded his rifle for the flock Lilly held. "We might as well leave a sign that says 'the men are gone, come rape our women and children,'" Kenny joked.

"Ha," Lilly laughed sarcastically. She placed the rifle down on a nearby dresser and turned back to them. "So what did you get?"

"A lot of stuff," Lee answered.

Kenny handed over the backpack. "We're FINE by the way..."

She set it down on the bed and examined its contents. "Nice work," Lilly said. "This will keep us going. If we carry on like this, we'll get through the winter here."

"The _winter_?" Kenny asked incredulously. "We'll freeze our asses off here."

"Because piling into an RV with you two, after what you did to my dad, is SO appealing," Lilly said.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kenny asked. "You know I'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe."

"We're already safe."

"We have to go eventually, Lilly," Lee said.

"We don't have to do anything." _Stubborn as hell, like her dad in that way._

"You didn't want to go because of your dad's health but now he's gone." Katjaa poked her head out above her husband's shoulder.

"Easy, Kenny," Lee cautioned the husband.

"At it again, are we?" Carley asked tentatively.

"Can it, Carley," Kenny said back.

"Don't boss people around!" Lilly ordered.

"We're strongest together. It can't be you versus us, Lilly," Lee explained. "We're sorry for what happened to your dad, but we're in this together now."

"What about the food situation?" Kenny asked. "What about the protection? What about when this place falls? Somebody's gotta be thinkin' about this shit."

"How does this not work?" Lilly asked. "We have everything we need."

"Because of me, Lilly." Kenny answered.

"That's b.s., Kenny, and you know it," Lilly said.

"We got all the protection we need," Lee said, more to Katjaa than Kenny. Katjaa hadn't been feeling all too safe lately, since all the adults (and Tyler, against Lee's wishes) were required to carry guns now.

"And when fifteen bandits hop over that wall in the middle of the night?" Kenny asked.

"They won't be going back over," Lee answered.

"Everything that happens to us is another excuse for you to pull this crap about leaving," Lilly said. "All I want is a week of peace; of not hearing it."

"Do you know how we got these supplies? We got lucky and let a girl get eaten out there." Kenny explained. _Dammit, Kenny, why'd you bring that up?_

"What...?" Katjaa asked, surprised.

"Some girl came screaming out of an alley. She had dead hanging all over her. She gave us enough time to get everything we could out of that drugstore."

"You just let her suffer like, what, like bait?" Lilly asked. "God, what is happening..."

"She was dead anyway," Lee said. "It made the most sense in the moment."

"Lee's right," Kenny agreed. "We've been putting our lives on the line doing these runs into the city. You wouldn't believe the shit we see."

"We all appreciate it, Ken -" Katjaa started.

"You should be thanking Lee for not shooting that girl," Kenny interrupted.

"It's not so EASY for him," Lilly said.

"Look, Macon and its people aren't savable. It's not a town. It's full of walkers and the people who WERE left are dying and wandering out on the streets. It's hell on Earth and it's coming way."

"IT'S NOT GOING TO BE EASIER ON THE ROAD!" Lilly exclaimed.

"How would we know?" Kenny asked.

"WHAT I KNOW?" Lilly mocked flippantly. "I know you're not above murder! I know somebody has been STEALING our supplies - that's right, STEALING - and I know the list of people I can trust here gets SMALLER EVERY DAY! Now everybody GET OUT."

They complied, and Lee shut the door behind them. "Happy, Kenny?" Lee asked.

"My family's alive and that RV is runnin'. You're goddamn right I am."

"Everyone's under great stress," Katjaa said.

"She's right about one thing," Kenny agreed. "None of this is gettin' any easier." Kenny walked away. Katjaa looked at Lee apologetically, then followed her husband.

Carley groaned from beside him. "Things are coming to a head."

"You could say that," Lee agreed.

"Well, I think you did good today. And I find myself thinking that most days."

"DUCK! NO!" Tyler boomed. Lee looked up at Tyler on the RV, right before he jumped off- ten feet to the ground- and barrel-rolled to his feet. He then charged over to Duck by the makeshift wall. Lee started running as well, passing a stupefied Kenny sitting on the couch near him.

Tyler reached Duck first, grabbing his hand and throwing it in the direction of the wall. A small object flew out of it and landed on the other side of the wall. He then threw Duck to the ground and positioned himself as a shield against the wall over Kenny Jr. Lee arrived and threw his shoulder over Tyler's back, pushing his son down as well.

A large force pushed them all away like a giant hand had slapped them back towards the RV. He didn't see where Duck and Tyler landed, but all Lee knew was that he came rolling to a stop against the couch, hearing several screams and feeling no human contact. His vision swam.

"Lee!" a distant voice called. Carley, most likely. He regained his vision and found his guess correct. Carley hovered above him, hands close to his forehead and stomach, but not touching either.

He looked past her and found Katjaa and Kenny standing over an unmoving Duck. He didn't see Tyler. He pushed himself off of his knee to his feet- ignoring the hand that Carley had offered to help him up- and limped over to Kenny, clutching his stomach. There wasn't any blood there, but it definitely hurt.

"Duck..."

"He's alive," Katjaa informed, her hand under his chin, probably checking for bruises. "He'll be okay. It was just a shock."

Lee could swear he saw crystallized droplets falling from Kenny's face but he didn't know for sure. He put his hand on Kenny's shoulder. Kenny looked to his left and lunged that way.

Onto Tyler. "Thank you..." Kenny whimpered, clearly holding back tears. Tyler, reluctantly, wrapped his arms around Kenny's back and returned the hug.

Tyler didn't seem particularly injured. Lee hadn't seen where he had landed. And that jump from the RV... How had he not broken anything in his feet or legs? He spared a glance for Ben, who looked frozen in place.

"Lee!" Lee turned at the sound of Clementine's voice, just in time to see Lilly round the corner of the RV with a rifle in her hands. He distinctly remembered this same sight of her, the only thing different being that Larry's blood wasn't staining her clothes.

"Relax. It's okay, Lilly." His hands instinctively raised to avoid being shot, although he doubted that Lilly would shoot him in front of everyone.

"What the hell was that?" Lilly demanded.

"Calm the fuck down!" Kenny shouted. "Look at the wall, Lilly," Kenny gestured to the large gap between the parts of the wooden fences. "We don't have a choice now. That wall can't protect us from shit, and who knows how many walkers heard that!"

"Tell me what happened," Lilly ordered. Lee didn't like how her hand squeezed around the gun as she spoke.

"Duck pulled the pin on a grenade," Lee explained. "Tyler saved him." Tyler took a step toward Lilly.

"A grenade?" Lilly's eyes widened. "Where'd he get that from?"

"I think he thought it was a toy," Tyler said warily. He held his right hand in front of him and his left behind him as he continued to approach the weapon wielder. "I shouldn't have left it in my room."

"You brought a grenade in here without telling us?" Kenny interjected.

Tyler raised his left hand behind him towards Kenny, continuing to approach Lilly. "I brought it in here because I wasn't going to leave it on some walker out there."

"We're fine, Lilly," Lee stated. "No need for panic."

"We need to leave now!" Kenny asserted. "This place ain't safe anymore."

"And who's fault is that?" Lilly countered, her gun raised to be pointed at Kenny. Tyler reached her.

His hand knocked hers down, then his left hand pushed the barrel of the gun up. The rifle flew into the air, Lilly having lost control of it. Tyler then jumped off of Lilly's knee and caught the gun, pointing it at the woman he stole it from.

_How the fuck? _Lee thought at the display. _How did Tyler just do that?_

_Never mind that_. He shoved those thoughts of confusion down and focused. He stepped in front of Tyler. He was biting his upper lip.

"Calm down. Give me the gun."

Tyler looked away, but did not stop biting his lip. Lee wondered what Tyler was going to do next, since he really hadn't seen Tyler with a gun and biting his upper lip at the same time.

Tyler took his finger off of the trigger, took that hand off the gun, then handed the rifle off. Lee took it slowly, still observing his son's lip. Kenny came from behind Tyler and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Come on," he nudged. "Help me with Duck." Tyler shook him off and walked towards the gap in the wall.

Lee followed him with his eyes, just to make sure he wasn't leaving the motel in his own, which he wasn't. Then, uncertain if it was wise or not, gave the rifle back to Lilly. Thankfully, she just walked back to her room without saying anything else.

Katjaa was on her feet, holding the unconscious Duck in her arms. Kenny and she walked back over to the couch and laid Duck between them. Lee walked over to Lilly's room, hoping to resolve the possible traitor within the group. He opened the door and walked inside.

"I'm sorry," Lilly said, sitting on her bed. Lee grunted in acceptance. He found a wooden chair across from the bed and sat in it. He propped up his elbow on the table next to it. "Did you come in here to give me hell or to coddle me?"

"I wanted to follow up on what you said about stolen supplies," Lee answered.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"I don't, I just heard you mention it," Lee answered honestly.

"And you came in here to confess?" Lilly started to get angry.

"I'm not stealing shit; I came in here to help."

"There's a traitor, somebody, one of us, out there. He or she or they have been taking things."

"Paranoia isn't going to help us."

"I know what this sounds like," Lilly said, "but I'm not paranoid. The count's off and it's the good stuff. Antibiotics, oxy, anything with opium in it."

"I see the count and it's fine." He hadn't really been keeping track since the week before. He just relied on Carley to tell him when they needed more supplies from Macon.

"I keep my own," Lilly said. "That one's getting messed up. I'm a fucking mess right now but I'm not stupid. I know what happens if I start a witch hunt."

"So you want me to start one?" Lee asked angrily.

"I want you to poke around."

Lee thought about it. "What's there to go on?"

Lilly picked up a big, orange flashlight and gave it to Lee. "I found this tossed into the garbage." Lee inspected it carefully. The glass was shattered, the bulb was broken, and it felt light enough to be missing its single battery. "We don't toss out equipment. We fix it. You'd only try to get rid of a flashlight if you were using it when you shouldn't."

"Okay. I'll poke around a little bit."

"Thank you. If you don't find anything, I'm just going to assume it's you."

Lee walked out of the room, flashlight in his pocket.

"So who decided to let Lilly handle the rations, anyway?" a voice asked from Lee's side.

Lee wheeled on the voice and discovered Tyler with his back to the motel wall. "Just wondering" was what his face implied.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked tentatively.

Tyler blew out a breath of air. "If you mean calm, then yes. If you mean mentally, physically, or emotionally, then no." He looked in Kenny's direction. "Duck almost died today."

"That wasn't on you," Lee consoled. "Duck didn't know it was real."

"Maybe. Still, I didn't tell anybody but you." Tyler faced his father. "What's in your pocket?"

Lee pulled out the broken flashlight and handed it to Tyler. "Lilly found this in a dumpster."

"She sleeping there now?" Lee couldn't tell if that was a joke because Tyler's gaze was settled upon the flashlight. "Bulb's missing," he observed.

"I noticed."

"No battery either. Don't know why you would remove the battery, though. Not like there's anything around here that needs one like that, except..." Tyler trailed off.

"Except what?"

"A walkie-talkie," Tyler said, glancing at Clementine.

Lee glanced at her as well. The girl in the purple cap was drawing something with some chalk on a wooden pallet, wearing a jacket with the word "Brooklyn" on the front.

"Clementine doesn't use flashlights unsupervised," Lee said, uncertain. She had been holding a flashlight that night two weeks before, when she had woken him up to help with Tyler. Was the one Lilly found the same one?

"Well, I'll do some digging. Maybe there is no traitor."

"How do you..." Tyler was right at the door. He must have heard most of what Lilly said. "Never mind. Just be careful."

"Dad?" Tyler said.

Lee turned back to face him. Tyler held out the flashlight, and Lee accepted it. "Thanks. Anything else you want to talk about?" Lee tried. He still remembered hearing that Tyler had killed someone within the last three months.

"I just told Kenny," Tyler said vaguely. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, round object with a scaled design and pin at the top.

"Another one?" Lee asked, shocked.

"Yeah. Last one. And before you ask, no, I will not let this out of my sight upon penalty of having my guts eaten," Tyler said jokingly.

"Alrighty then."

"Carley asked to see you. She's up there." Tyler pointed with his finger to the spot on the balcony near where Irene had caused them all to fall over on. She killed herself that day.

_You didn't do enough, _he cursed himself angrily.

Carley stood up there, nevertheless, with her head in her hands on the metal railing. Beautiful.

"I'll go talk to her," Lee stated.

"Alrighty then." With that, Tyler sprang off the wall and walked off.

Lee decided to talk to Carley before investigating the missing supplies. He walked up the staircase in the corner and found her still in the same position as before: head in her hands, arms on the railing.

"You talk to Lilly yet?" Carley asked without turning to face him.

"Yeah. She thinks supplies have been walking away," Lee answered. "There's some broken equipment, too. I'll look into it."

"Thanks for doing that," Carley said. She stood up straight. "... What I wanted to say was that I've been thinking a lot." Carley eyed him. "About you."

"I think about you, too," Lee said.

Carley looked at him. After a pause, she said, "Our group is small."

"You're small."

"You're a convicted killer."

"Carley. Jesus..."

"And I think people should know," Carley explained. "Not because they deserve to and not because you're a bad man. I think the opposite of two things. People need to know because we're hanging by a thread here and I can't see Lilly talk about you without thinking it's the next thing she's going to say. You don't have to tell everyone, but think about who you trust and take the opportunity while you have it."

"It was a lifetime ago," Lee argued.

"Which is only going to make the feeling that you hid it and that there was even more to hide that much worse. People might be pissed. And telling them might cause some trouble, but it will be a far cry from what'll happen if they don't hear it from you."

"Yeah."

"So you'll tell them?"

"I'll let people know," Lee conceded. "You're totally right."

"Good. I think it's for the best." She moved closer to Lee. Suddenly, Carley kissed Lee on the cheek. "Don't call me small," she whispered into his ear before stepping back. "Now... Um, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"Do you know anything about this flashlight?" Lee asked.

"It's broken," Carley responded sarcastically.

"Really?" Lee asked flatly. "I didn't notice."

"And the batteries might be in backwards," Carley joked.

"It uses just one."

"Everything should. What was the question?"

"Did you break the flashlight?" Lee asked directly.

"No." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Ok." Lee changed the subject. "You have any thoughts about Lilly?"

"I worry about her. That's about it. She keeps trying to run things but it' sustain not working."

"I'm going to go look into this thing," Lee said in parting.

"Good idea."

Lee walked back down the stairs and found Clementine drawing on a pallet at the base of the curb.

"Hey, Clementine." He crouched down to meet her.

"Hey, Lee." She put down her drawing items. Hopefully, the wind wouldn't carry it away.

"What's that you're working on, Clem?"

"It's a leaf rubbing," Clementine said. "My teacher, Miss. Moore, showed us how to do 'em when we went to the Botanical Garden once." She held up the drawing and a leaf that was underneath it. "See? It's the same! Um, kind of."

"That's really something."

"I'll make one for you, too!" she promised, chipper.

Lee changed the subject. "Do you like it here?"

"I don't _like_ it here," Clementine said.

"Do you want to leave, then?"

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere else." Lee had no idea where their next destination was.

"I don't know. Maybe if I knew where."

"Yeah, that'd be a good thing to know." After a pause, he said, "You didn't accidentally break a flashlight, did you?"

"No, did Duck say I did?"

"No. Did Duck break it?"

"I don't think so. He's just always blaming me for stuff."

"Like what?"

"Like putting a bug on his pillow," she said with a mouse-like expression on her face.

"Did you do that?" Lee asked.

She smiled nervously. "Yes."

"Clem, I need to tell you something."

"Okey-dokey."

"Before I met you and before the plague I killed somebody."

"Oh. So that's what..."

"Yeah. That's it. It was a bad thing a there's no explaining it."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Because I didn't want to keep it to myself anymore," Lee said. "Do you have any questions?"

She shook her head.

"You can go back to your things."

She nodded her head. Lee left her to draw and went to Kenny and Katjaa. An unconscious Duck was lying between them, head in Katjaa's lap.

"Hey you two," Lee greeted, "how're you doing?

"We're okay," Katjaa answered.

"Just having a little spat," Kenny explained.

"And Duck?"

"He'll be fine," Katjaa said simply. She laid her hand on her son's forehead. "We all carry guns now and, well, I don't like it."

"It's the way it's gotta be," Kenny stated firmly.

"I know," Katjaa said, "but I'm not getting used to it. I'm sorry, how are you Lee?" She stroked Duck's cheek.

"Do you guys know anything about this broken flashlight?" Lee asked, holding it up.

"Fuck, we don't got many of those," Kenny commented.

"Yeah, it's a problem," Lee said. "The glass and the bulb are all busted out."

"I saw some broken glass over by the ice machine," Katjaa said. "I meant to clean it up before the kids hurt themselves on it; I forgot though."

"Okay," Lee said. "Um, about the guns..."

"Don't you start," Kenny cut off.

The other adults stared at Kenny before Lee broke the silence. "I just wanted to say, Kat, it's probably good they make you uncomfortable."

"Thank you, Lee," she said dryly.

"But we need them," Lee asserted, "there's no doubt about it." Lee looked at the man on the couch. "Kenny, you got a second? I need to tell you something." He gestured with his head to the side to indicate for Kenny to meet him near the RV.

"Sure, pal," Kenny answered. "What d'ya got?" Kenny stood up and followed Lee to the RV and stood beside it.

Lee spared a glance for Carley- still standing on the balcony, head in her hands- and told Kenny "It's serious."

"Oh no, what'd the she-devil do to you..."

"Shut up, man," Lee said. "I was on my way to prison three months ago."

Kenny's eyes widened. "No shit?"

"No shit," Lee confirmed.

"It wasn't for touching kids was it?" Kenny asked.

Lee groaned. "Come on, man."

"What? I gotta ask! We have three kids here!"

"No. I killed a guy in a fight."

"Hmm. Musta' been a real piece of shit if you had to haul off and kill him."

_He was. _Senator Hans Zimmer. "So we're straight then?"

"Lee, look at everything this mess has got us doin' now. I'm sorry you went through whatever you went through. Yeah, we're 'straight.'"

Kenny went back to Duck and Lee followed about as far as the edge of the RV. He called Katjaa next and she left Duck with Kenny.

"Is everything okay?" Katjaa asked.

"I've killed before," Lee explained. "I mean before the walkers showed up."

"You mean you were a murderer?" she asked.

"You say it like it was my job," Lee said.

"Well, what are the details?"

"It was in a dispute."

"Would he have killed you?"

"I think so."

She paused and said, "Tell me what happened when you were locked in the fridge. At the dairy."

_Really, Kenny, _Lee thought critically. _You tell Lilly about letting that girl in Macon get eaten, but you don't tell your wife about killing Larry? "_I held Lilly back and Kenny made sure Larry... didn't get up."

"How'd he do that?"

"He smashed his head in." She gasped in shock. She looked down and walked a short distance towards the wall. Right in front of the gap, actually. "Katjaa..."

"Everything keeps changing," Katjaa murmured. She walked back to the couch and sat down. She resumed stroking Duck's cheek.

Lee looked up at the top of the RV. "Hey, Ben."

"What's up, Lee?" Ben responded.

"A flashlight was broken," Lee said. "Was it you?"

"No."

"You're not in trouble if it was," Lee explained. "I know you get nervous and maybe went to the bathroom, broke it, got worried and tossed it."

"What's with the third degree? I didn't break any flashlight." _Defensive, eh. That's certainly noteworthy._

"Okay then. I need to tell you something, though."

"Sure, Lee," Ben said. "Is it about my watch? I'm trying to do a good job."

"You're doing fine." Lee paused. _Does it really matter if he knows? It's not like he needs to know for better of his job._ "Uh, never mind."

"Oh, okay." Ben looked down, clearly depressed that Lee didn't trust him enough to say what was on his mind.

"It wasn't important."

"Did I do something wrong?" Ben asked.

"No, Ben, you're fine. Talk to you later."

Lee went over to where the ice machine was. He found piece of glass near the corner of the motel. He picked one piece up and held it against the shattered remnants of the glass on the flashlight. It was a perfect match. _Whoever's been slipping them supplies has been doing it from here, _Lee observed_. _He looked around the area. He noticed a pink "X" on the wall above the ice machine. "Chalk," he said to himself after rubbing it with two fingers and feeling it's texture.

Tyler materialized beside him. "That glass from the flashlight?" Tyler asked, not so subtly.

"Yeah, that's a pretty safe bet."

"How about whoever breaking that flashlight writing that 'X' there?"

"Also safe," Lee noted.

"It's pink chalk. That kind of points to Clem, doesn't it?" Tyler faced Lee directly. "Of course, she isn't tall enough to reach that height."

"No she's not," Lee agreed. "So someone left this here as a marker for the bandits. Wonder where that chalk is now."

"Where did Lilly find the flashlight?"

"The dumpster." It made sense that there would be more evidence there. Lilly wouldn't have thought the chalk important, just something Duck was hiding from Clementine. She wouldn't have thought it 'evidence' enough to be worthy of her time to return.

"I'll go check there then. Maybe you should ask Clementine if someone asked for her chalk."

"I'll go tell Lilly, too." Hopefully, that would raise some suspicion off his back.

Tyler walked over to the dumpsters to look for clues, leaving Lee to clean up the marker. With a quick roll of his sleeve, he wiped the chalk away and removed the broken glass, placing it on the other side of the wall. He walked on over to Clementine, who had resumed her "leaf rubbing" with some purple chalk and a pencil. The paper she drew on kept getting caught by the wind, making it a little difficult for her to draw effectively.

"Hey, Clementine, do you have any pink chalk?" Lee asked.

"No," Clementine answered, "it's gone somewhere." Lee grunted thoughtfully. "Do you want blue?"

"No, no, it's okay."

Lee went over to Lilly's door, thought about knocking, but thought better of it. He really didn't have anything to share that would be helpful. He decided instead to join Tyler by the dumpster. He walked over towards the dumpster, expecting Tyler to be rooting through the contents, but instead seeing him over by the couch with Kenny, a hand on Duck's shoulder to keep him steady- as Kenny's son was a little wobbly on the couch and his neck kept rotating in dizziness- apparently asking if-

Duck.

He ran over to the couch, catching the last few words of Tyler's conversation with Duck: "Take it easy, please," Tyler said. Lee crouched down next to his son to look at Duck. He was sitting on his mother's legs, propped against Kenny's shoulder. Tyler stood up as Lee bent down, hoping to check on Duck as well. Kenny looked at Lee with tears in his eyes.

He found his voice. "How is he?" Lee wrapped his arm around Tyler.

"He's okay," Kenny replied cheerfully. "In a few hours, he'll be himself again."

"He's a little tired," Katjaa explained.

"Okay. Just keep him close," Lee requested. "I'm gonna go talk with Tyler." He ushered Tyler over to the dumpsters with his arm.

"Duck's gonna be okay, Dad," Lee's son stated. "He's gonna be okay."

"I know. Did you find anything over here?"

"I found some chalk in the dumpster and a scuff underneath it. I'm guessing there's another 'X' on a different wall out there."

"Okay. I'll go update Lilly." With that, he went over Lilly's door, actually knocked this time, and let himself in.

"Find anything?" Lilly asked.

"So there's this... chalk marking on the wall on the side of the motel, and a matching scuff on the other side, leading out of the gate."

"Someone is working with the those fuckers," Lilly said. "I know it."

"Whoever it is went out to do something but we come and go all the time. I don't want to create more paranoia."

"Go outside and look," she ordered, "you have to."

"Okay. I'll be back." He let himself out.

He returned over to Tyler, who knelt down at the dumpster, inspecting the wheel. "What'd you find?" Lee asked.

"The trail heads out to the left, but we've never gone on supply runs that way."

That much was true. The only places they had ever scavenged were Macon, which was to the right, and, unfortunately, the St. John Dairy Farm, which was straight through the woods. Nobody had wanted to go back there, and after hearing all the stories, Tyler had opposed the idea as well. But they had to go back for both physical and emotional needs. They had found a bunch of the guns they now carried scattered around the premises, and had even stopped to put down their fallen comrade: Mark. Tyler hadn't actually met Mark, but Lee had caught a glimpse of him biting his lip at the sight of Mark.

Tyler had been the one to make sure Mark didn't feel anymore pain.

"I'll go check it out. Why don't you start packing?"

"You think we're gonna leave today?" Tyler checked.

"With that hole in the wall, yes. Tell Clem to do the same please."

"Got it." Tyler left to get Clementine from the pallet.

Lee strode through the gap in the fence and trailed out left to search for clues, passing the motor inn sign. _We've been here too long already, _Lee thought. Not that it was their fault. Kenny was still having problems with fixing the RV. Motivation was at a premium, these days.

He stayed near the fence as he patrolled, shooting Ben a glance at the top of the RV. The lookout of the day raised a thumb. _I've got you covered,_ the thumb said. Lee nodded.

He walked over to the wall obstructing the view of the courtyard. Solid brick, he found no chalk markings that shouldn't have been there. What he did find, however, was a grate panel covering a vent. Using his fingers (scratching them a tiny bit), he removed the panel and looked inside of the vent. A brown paper bag was laid inside.

He leaned backwards, looking at the gate made up of two dumpsters. He imagined someone dropping the chalk before disposing of it and the flashlight, pushing against the wheeled container, walking out side, prying open the grate, stashing the bag, replacing the lid and slipping back inside. This could have happened multiple times with the obstructed view, the lookout being unable to see the exchange.

Lee bent back down and pulled out the bag. He looked inside. Nothing but OxyContin in the paper bag. The bag felt hot in his hands, probably due to its time beneath a radiator in the vent. "Son of a bitch," he remarked to himself. Lilly was right. Someone had been stealing from those supplies, stashing them away and leaving markers for the bandits. Lee theorized that with the dairy farmers dead and their human meat off the table, the bandits needed no more excuse not to extort someone else, this time for drugs.

Lee fitted the bag into his pocket as best he could without letting anyone see it out of fear that there really was a traitor that would know he or she had been discovered. He ruled out Katjaa immediately: the veterinarian wouldn't leave the wall as Kenny wouldn't let her, not after she had been held hostage by some cannibals the last time she had.

He also determined that it couldn't be Duck, for that matter, as Duck wasn't allowed to leave under any circumstances for the same reason as Katjaa. Duck also didn't have access to the medical supplies they had in stock. Nobody, not even his own parents, allowed him to handle anything really. The experience with the grenade earlier that day showed that that was a wise decision.

He could also rule out Clementine, as she had told him before that she had never seen anyone out there aside from walkers. The bandits had only attacked in the beginning in night raids with bows and arrows. Lee had always been able to repel them with Carley and Lilly's help, but they lost precious ammunition in the process. For some reason, they had stopped with those raids. Now, he knew why.

He walked into Lilly's room, dreading their next conversation.

She still sat on her bed, not having moved since their previous talk. Her eyes followed his figure as he sat down in the chair across from the bed. "You haven't come up with anything, have you?" Lilly greeted.

"I came up with this," Lee said, handing over the bag, and subsequently, the flashlight. He settled into the wooden chair as best he could, but still couldn't help but squirm under her steely gaze. "It's got a bunch of meds in it. It was in a grate on the outside wall and there's a sign on the side."

"Holy fuck," Lilly exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Okay," Lilly said. "We line everyone up. Everyone. Somebody is killing us. Stealing from that supply is the same as slipping into your room at night and cutting your throat while you sleep. You die. What is the difference? What if Clementine gets sick and we don't have what we need- what the hell?" She stood up and looked out the window.

"YOU DONT FUCKING STEAL FROM US!"

"Who the fuck is that?!" Lee said. Lee looked out the motel window to see bandits holding most of the group hostage, for some reason organizing them by size. That put Ben and Kenny next to each other, followed by Katjaa and Tyler, succeeded by Carley, Duck and Clementine. "They've got our people out there!"

"Oh shit," Lilly said, running for her rifle. "They're gonna start kicking in doors any second!"

"Lilly? What the hell are you-"

"Stall them," Lilly ordered.

"_What_?" Lee asked. How was he going to stall a pack of drug abusing bandits with violent tendencies?

"Just keep them talking. Do whatever it takes to stop them from pulling the trigger!" Lilly left using the back window to go upstairs. Lee cursed himself.

"Enough of this bullshit! Drew, start putting your boot to these doors." The bandit, "Drew," shouted in triumph as a response. Lee opened the door, rounded the RV and walked up to them in surrender, hands in the air. "Hold it asshole!" Lee recognized the speaker as the bandit that had killed his friend in the woods with a shotgun a few weeks before, shooting several shells into his corpse after he was dead.

"Take it easy," Lee calmed. He felt that he could resolve this situation the way he had with Andy: keeping them calm. "We have more supplies. We can keep the deal going." He took a step closer.

"Too late shithead! We ain't giving second chances!"

"I was a mix-up!" Lee promised. "We'll make it worth your while." Tyler bit his lip. _Not good._

"I'm listening."

"What will it take to reach a deal?" Lee asked.

"'Bout twice as much as you been giving us!" Extortion wasn't pleasant, but it kept the bandits alive. Lee could hardly blame them for that.

_Stop it,_ Lee cursed himself. _They're holding your son hostage, and you think they could be reasonable._

"You got it. Done." Tyler reached downwards slowly, as did Kenny, though they were reaching for different things: Tyler his knife, Kenny his wife's pistol.

"Is that so? Well... I suppose we oughta hash out some terms, then!" The leader's gun lowered.

"I don't like no hash!" a bearded bandit said. Amateur, Lee supposed. But then again, he and Danny had found that the bandits were former employees of Save-Lots. They probably had no real experience in this sort of thing. Hell, the masked leader didn't need that mask; he was just acting tough in front of his friends.

"Gary, shut up or I'll-" Lilly shot the masked bandit from afar. _Good shot, Air Force girl. _Lee drew his pistol as the blood spurted from the bandit's head.

"CHRIST!" Drew exclaimed.

"Oh shit." Katjaa screamed out of fear. Every single person shuffled around in confusion. Tyler took the opportunity to draw his knife and stab Gary in the foot, pinning him in place before running off with Carley and Ben. Kenny- who held his wife's gun now- and his family all ran in different directions, Clementine with Duck and Katjaa.

Suddenly, Carley shot two bandits, including Gary, in the head. Lee shot the last one, as he tried to escape through the gap in the wall. Lee saw and heard the bullet impact, but it only hit him in the buttock, sparing him from death. As the final bandit disappeared from view, Lee heard a sharp whistle. Suddenly- carrying a hooting call of yells- two dozen bandits came swarming out of the woods, firing their weapons at anything that moved. One of them dropped instantly, a gift from Lilly.

Lee ran for cover behind the RV.

"Get back there! Smoke him out!" one bandit shouted amidst the gunfire.

Kenny ran out with a scoped rifle and a fresh magazine. "We gotta get outta here!"

"No shit!" Lee confirmed. He placed his pistol in his waistband.

"Get those bastards!" Kenny ordered, giving the rifle to Lee. "Cover our people and get them to the RV!" He ran inside and started the engine.

Lee shot two bandits behind the gate, lining them up with his scoped sights before pulling the trigger. "Now! Get over here! Hurry!" Ben and Carley ran past Lee and into the RV. Tyler lagged behind.

"Man, you saved our asses!" Ben said, relieved.

"Get inside!" Lee ordered. Thankfully, he and Carley complied. "Tyler, get over here!"

"But my knife..." Tyler Everett shouted back. He had left his knife in Gary's foot.

"LEAVE IT," Lilly demanded from her vantage point. Fortunately, Tyler managed to get over to Lee without getting shot. Lee heard him grumble "bitch" as his son made it safely into the RV.

"BEHIND THE RV!" Lee's position was blown. Katjaa, Duck, and Clementine needed help. They hid behind a bunch of crates near the barrels as Katjaa cried out for assistance.

"Katjaa! Hang on!" Lee yelled. Lee ran to the opposite end of the RV to provide support.

Walkers invaded the parking lot. It was definitely a miracle that none had shown up before, considering the noise from the grenade explosion and the newly formed gap in the wall, but all good things must come to an end. They infected some of the bandits, but weren't completely on Lee's side. One of them devoured a bald bandit from behind as he fired upon Clementine, pleasingly missing every shot with his amateur firing skills.

Three more bandits tried to shoot Lee. Their bullets just barely missed him as they deflected off metal of the vehicle. He hoped to God that they hadn't shot Kenny through the window. The three bandits all moved in closer; taking cover behind numerous objects. He shot one bandit that got too close to Clementine in the head, then pulled the trigger again to a click. Cursing, Lee took cover and reloaded with the one spare magazine Kenny had given him. After reloading, he rounded the corner of the RV and shot the remaining two bandits. "Katjaa" he urged. "Hurry! Come on!" Clementine ran first and hugged Lee before getting inside the RV.

Katjaa forced her son to her feet and started running towards the vehicle, when suddenly a walker- Lee recognized it to be the same one who killed the bald bandit- tackled Katjaa from behind. Lee watched in horror as Katjaa's head split open from her temple and blood started pouring out when she crashed into box's wooden corner. She was barely able to twist as she fell and get a shoulder underneath her before twisting about to hold the walker at bay.

Lee raised his rifle and shot the zombie point blank before it could bite either mother or son. Kenny appeared momentarily to grab his son, pat his wife under her arms for reassurance, and usher them all along to the door of the RV. Katjaa muttered something under her breath that Lee couldn't quite hear.

"Lilly! Get in the RV!" Lee yelled.

"Screw her! Let her stay!" Kenny said. He entered the RV and took the wheel.

Carley appeared next to him and took cover at the opposite end of the RV from him, apparently having seen multiple walkers breaching the wall and running back out of the car, loading a fresh magazine into her pistol. Alongside Lee, who stood near the hood while she crouched near the back, shot the surrounding undead horde. Lee quietly admired her accuracy in hitting four different walkers with a pistol: he had trouble lining up the sights on the scoped rifle Kenny had given him. He shot two before his rifle clicked. Frustrated, he casted it aside.

The engine sputtered to life. Carley threw one of the walkers Lee had failed to shoot to the ground before nearly getting chomped on herself by a different one. She repelled it by shooting from under its chin. "Lilly! Last chance! Get down here!" Lee said. Carley shot the walker she had thrown and entered the RV.

After looking at the horde of walkers and bandits, she ran downstairs to reach the door. Kenny rammed through the breached wall and drove away from the motel, heading for downtown Macon to cut through back towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Their home. It was lost now. Too bad it wasn't empty, now that they had no supplies. There was no going back for anybody.

* * *

><p>"KAT! Jesus, are you okay?!" Kenny desperately asked.<p>

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she returned, frantic. Blood spattered her clothing and Duck sat in her lap.

Ben repeatedly cursed to himself while sitting with his head in his hands before sitting back next to Carley and looking Lilly in the eyes. "I'm sorry," he apologized briskly.

"Everything's fine, Ben," Carley consoled. Tyler sat down on the floor next to the sink, head titled back against the cabinets and mouth open, breathing hard. Lee stood over the counter of the sink, staying close to his son. Clementine sat at the dining table, quietly avoiding everyone else to draw unto herself. Apparently, she lost her leaf rubbing and had opted to draw a new picture with all different colors.

"Everything's _not_ fine," Lilly challenged. "We need to figure out how this happened. We just lost everything." Lilly shook her head at that last part, as if her own words were funny. They weren't.

"Well, we're lucky as shit to have this RV!" Kenny said gleefully.

"And nobody died," Carley chimed in.

Lee absentmindedly rubbed his hand through Tyler's hair. His son softly banged his head against the cabinets in response, obviously trying to stay quiet but also tell Lee to stop.

"Kat's head is split open!"

"I'm fine!" Katjaa repeated, a conclusive tone in her voice.

"Somebody in here caused this," Lilly asserted.

"Settle down back there," Kenny denied. "The bandits have had our number for weeks!"

"This was different. Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was was slipping them our meds. They didn't get their last package, so they attacked." She gripped a cupboard above the dining table- where Clementine sat- angrily.

"Calm down back there! That's nuts!" _Keep your eyes on the road, Kenny. _

"Lee found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall," Lilly stated.

Everyone looked at Lee but the driver and passengers sitting up front. "It's true," he verified.

"So, Carley, is there something you want to say?" Lilly asked softly.

Tyler bit his upper lip. Lee rubbed his hair again.

"Please," Carley scoffed.

"We have to get it out of you, then?" the accuser said.

"Back off," Carley let out through gritted teeth. The former WABE reporter glared at Lilly.

"You're in no position to make demands."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're just pointing fingers," Carley angrily muttered.

"I didn't just come up with this. I've had my suspicions."

"Why her?" Lee questioned. "This seems like a stab in the dark, Lilly."

"She's always _so_ eager to see what supplies we found. She-"

"So are you," Tyler defended. "That doesn't mean anything."

Lilly shook her head dismissively. "She never talks about her family. She could be related to those bastards for all we know."

"She killed two of them today. I think she's proven herself loyal."

"Are you saying _you_ did it, then?" she bitterly asked Tyler. She leaned down to leer at him.

"My family's not a bunch of meth-riddled forest people. They're fucking Lutheran!" Carley snapped. Lee started: Carley never yelled.

"You're not saying it wasn't you," Lilly noticed.

"It wasn't me," Carley shot back, on the edge of her seat.

"Damn right," Tyler said. "You don't get to tell us what to do anymore, Lilly. You didn't save us, Carley did."

Carley glanced at Tyler appreciatively before noticing the apologetic look on Lee's face. She smiled at that, clearly amused that Lee was embarrassed at the moment.

"Like, look, maybe we should, uh, vote or something like that," Ben stammered.

"Vote?!" Lilly sputtered. "_What_?"

"Look, Carley's a stand up gal and maybe this was all just a mistake."

"Lilly, stop waving the finger at everybody," Lee requested. "We know something's going on and we can get to the bottom of it if we keep our heads."

"I know what we found," Lilly shot back defiantly. Her voice nearly cracked there in anger, but he wasn't sure who the anger was directed at. Everyone, probably.

Clementine drew more furiously, probably trying to tune out the intense argument.

"I know, Lilly." Lee looked down at his son. "I know."

"Nobody was stealing ANYTHING!" Ben attempted.

"Was it both of you?" Lilly asked emphatically. She kept her steely gaze on Ben and Carley; easy for her as they shared the same couch.

"_What_?" Ben asked.

"I've seen you two together," she explained. "Was it both of you?" Lilly repeated, somehow more emphatic than the last time.

"Look, just let me out. I didn't do it, but I don't like this; I don't like where it's headed."

"It isn't heading anywhere, Ben," Tyler said. "We can't prove anything short of a confession." He looked at everyone on his side of the RV. "No volunteers? Good. Happy, Lilly?"

She ignored him. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't have anything to do with it." Lilly settled her cold gaze on Ben's eyes. _An ending, then._

_"_Lilly, lay off of him," Carley pleaded tiredly.

"I-" Ben tried, but stopped as a sudden rumble forced them all out of relaxation. _Not_ _relaxation,_ Lee corrected himself. _Just organized panic. Everyday life. _

_"_What's going on up there?" Lilly demanded after hearing Kenny curse.

"I hit something," he explained. "We gotta stop."

"All right, well, we can deal with this now, then," Lilly said, seemingly happy for the roadblock. She returned her leering eyes to Ben's cowering face.

The RV slowed to a halt on the side of the road. Kenny adjusted the gear to park mode, and took off his seatbelt. Clementine stood up hesitantly. "Kenny, is it safe?" Lee inquired.

"Should be," Kenny remarked. _Helpful_.

"Everybody out," Lilly demanded.

"Lilly..." Lee warned cautiously.

"She glared at him. "Out," she repeated. She opened the trailer door and stepped out. Lee patted Tyler on the head, giving him permission to stay. He stood up and ushered Clementine back to the dining table. Lee followed Lilly out into the cool night air. _How long have we been driving?_ he wondered. _Nighttime already?_

Lee heard a door open and close from the driver's side of the vehicle. He also heard some moaning from not that far away. Carley and Ben stepped out from the trailer door in that order. They all looked around for the source of the moaning, until a crouching Lilly quietly called out "Kenny, the RV has some surface damage but there's a walker trapped underneath." _That answers where the moaning is coming from. How are we gonna stop it? _Lilly stood up.

Kenny crouched down at the hood of the vehicle and checked beneath it to confirm what Lilly said. "Goddammit. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled." He went to work on extracting the zombie.

_Better than what happened last time I was driven into a walker,_ Lee mused.

Clementine and Tyler appeared in the doorway.

"You know what? We shouldn't just kick you out, we should hear what everyone thinks," Lilly continued the argument.

"I think you should chill out," Ben suggested.

"I'm not gonna take this," Carley declared, indignant. "You can push Ben around but you me around." Clementine balanced herself on one leg in the doorway.

"I'm really sorry you feel that way," Lilly whispered, barely loud enough for the group to hear. "I'm starting to think maybe it was both of you."

"No!" Ben denied.

"God, this dumbfuck walker!" Kenny cursed.

Everyone faced Kenny's position. "You okay over there?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, yeah," he responded curtly.

"Ben, you have no other options." Lilly just wouldn't let up to consider the facts.

"Leave him alone," Carley said.

"There's no way it was Carley," Lee supplied. "It was somebody else. It could have even been someone sneaking into our camp."

"That's ridiculous. That's what you think?"

"Yes." With that one word, Lee felt invigorated. Confident.

"Okay, fine then." Lilly folded her arms. "Kenny?"

Kenny looked up from his work. "I don't know! Fuck!" He probably hadn't been paying attention. "Just, stop, would ya?!" Kenny looked back under the RV.

"Well, your vote counts for you and Katjaa," Lilly announced.

"We don't need all these _votes_!" Ben exclaimed. Lee narrowed his eyes. Wasn't it Ben's suggestion that they vote to begin with? "What do I have to do for you to TRUST me? I'll do _anything_!"

Tyler spoke up. "Ben, calm down."

"I- I'll do watches for months!"

Lilly laughed sarcastically. "The hell you will."

"I'll get more food, more medicine," Ben told Lilly. Kenny grunted from the front. "Anything, just-"

"YOU THINK ANY OF THAT IS GOOD NOW!?" Lilly demanded forcefully.

"JUST LET ME STAY PLEASE! GOD PLEASE." Ben begged.

"Stop panicking," Lee interjected. "Seriously Ben, you need to stop and just take a breath."

"Do we need any more evidence than this?" Lilly asked Lee.

"Fuck _evidence_. Stop treating him like this," Carley ordered.

"Shut up, Carley." Lilly groaned. "I've heard enough out of you." She looked towards Kenny. "Kenny! What's it going to be?"

"Just give me a damn minute!" Kenny responded.

Lee noticed Tyler biting his lip.

"Ben, you have until that walker is dealt with to tell me it was her", Lilly pointed at Carley, "and not you!"

"Stop this. You're torturing him," Carley said.

"No!" Ben screamed.

"Do it!" Lilly yelled.

"Stop," Carley said.

_Enough of this_. "I did it," Lee announced.

"What?" Lilly asked, annoyed. She clearly didn't believe him.

"Yeah, it was me. That get you to lay off the kid?"

The walker's moans grew louder.

"I think you're capable of being a real piece of shit," Lilly said angrily, "but I know it wasn't you." She gestured towards Clementine and Tyler. "Not with them in your life."

A large tear sounded out from under the RV, followed by a prominent _squish_. "There. I got him," Kenny said.

"Please, let's just get back in the RV," Ben suggested.

"That's not happening," said a tense Lilly.

"You think you're some tough bitch, don't you?" Carley taunted. "Like nothing can hurt you, but you're just a scared little girl. Get the fuck over it. Take a page from Lee's book and try helping somebody for once."

Tyler stepped forward from the RV.

Another squishing sound came from Kenny's direction, indicating the walker was dead. The moans stopped. Kenny joined them. "Now, what the fuck's the problem?"

Carley turned back to face Lilly, but had something hurled in front of her face. Immediately after, Lee heard a close proximity gunshot. He ducked by reflex, though the bullet hadn't been intended for him.

Lee looked up at Lilly, saw her holding a smoking gun, looking horrified. He turned his head to face Carley. She sat down against the dirt on the side of the road, dumbfounded to say the least. Carley glanced upwards at Lee, giving him a meaningful glance before turning her attention to what had been flung at her.

Tyler.

Before anybody could react, Lee spun and rammed his elbow into Lilly's gut, smashing her back against the wall of the RV. She gasped, keeling forward. As her head hung low, Lee threw his palm into Lilly's forehead, putting a dent into the RV as she slammed back into it.

He pinned her against the wall by her shoulders. Lee shook her- not at all gentle- and brought her back to consciousness. "Drop it," he ordered blankly, in a tone that suggested that failure to comply meant savage death.

Lilly, though still in a daze, was still aware enough to hear, listen, and respond to Lee's prompt to drop her gun. It hit Lee's forearm on its way to the pavement.

He heard a shivering whimper, coming from Clementine's direction.

Carley pulled out her own gun, cocked it and pointed it towards Lilly. She hastily moved forward. She tripped in her haste over Tyler's rising shoulder.

Rising shoulder.

Lee threw Lilly off to his left, causing her to grunt in pain as she hit the ground, but he didn't care. He slid next to Tyler as he stirred. Carley was there as well, readying her gun. They had all been there when Ben said that you turn no matter how you die, unless the brain is destroyed.

"KENNY. What's happening?" Katjaa asked from inside the RV.

"Keep Duck away from the windows!" he told her. "Jesus Christ!" He showed up at Lee's side, checking on Tyler too. He and Lee rolled Tyler over onto his back, going to check for a pulse. Carley, for the moment, kept her gun trained on the ground directly in front of Tyler's head.

Tyler's head burst up, coughing blood into the air. Lee grabbed his son's shoulders, holding him steady to allow him some breathing room. Kenny put his hands on Tyler's wound- the bullet had entered and exited from Tyler's right shoulder- to stop the bleeding. "Ben! Get Clementine inside," Kenny ordered. "C'mon, stay with me, Tyler." Tyler groaned a loud noise, like metal scratching metal. Blood stained his upper shirt inside. Lee loosened his grip on Tyler's injured shoulder, but held him steady nonetheless. Spasming wouldn't help Tyler. "Ben! I said move!" Ben sprang into action at this prompting.

"Clementine, help get some water," Ben requested of the little girl. Lee didn't look at her or Ben, but he could hear the crying from her direction.

A twig snapped from ahead of them, and Carley raised her gun at the noise. A walker stepped out, and she shot it in the head. Normally, he would have objected to her shooting it, but Lilly had already fired once. What would another bullet making noise matter?

Tyler stopped coughing, but the blood from his shoulder was still flowing. "It's gonna get infected," Lee said, water entering his mouth as he said that. Had he been crying? He hadn't felt his eyes sting. He wiped his face on his sleeve, and found the sleeve soaked.

"Let's get him inside, then," Kenny agreed. Carley entered first, putting her gun away. On her way in, she spat at Lilly, still on the ground. Ben came back out with a bowl of water.

"I brought water," Ben stated simply.

Kenny ignored his feeble attempts at helping and stood up to face the high school student. "GET IN. We're leaving this crazy bitch!" Kenny said sternly.

"I didn't mean to, Lee," Lilly pleaded to him. From her position, he could hear her very clearly. Not that he wanted to. "I swear, please."

"What're we gonna do with her?" Ben asked quietly.

"Leave her for the walkers," Kenny asserted.

"Why?" Lee asked softly. "Why, Lilly?"

"We're leaving her!" Kenny said angrily. "Let's go!"

Lee stayed silent.

"She almost killed Tyler," Kenny continued. "That's the end of it."

Lee looked at her, arms around Tyler. "You're not coming with us."

"I'll die out here," Lilly begged. Just like Ben did.

"I don't care," Lee growled.

"You're a murderer, Lilly," Kenny said. "We can't have you with us."

"I'm a murderer?!" Lilly asked incredulously. Her argument would probably be that she hadn't killed Tyler, but that would be useless. "You've had Lee with you this whole time!"

"I don't care what he did before," Kenny said.

"You know?!" Lilly asked surprised.

"Yeah, he told me," Kenny answered, "I don't give a shit. If we keep you with us, how long until you get ME?"

"I was trying to protect all of us!" she cried. "I don't have anything left."

"And you shot my son," Lee said.

"Get in, Lee," Kenny said. "Let's go you guys." Kenny picked up her gun and walked back over to the driver's side door. Ben walked into the open trailer door next, the water bowl in his hands making him look like a jackass.

Lee scooped up Tyler into his arms, marveling at Lilly's audacity to still be lying on the dirt where she was, tears falling from her eyes. She wasn't the one who had been hit by the bullet. He took one last look at her to remind himself what a paranoid schizophrenic with daddy issues looks like: a broken woman on her back. Lilly tilted over and sobbed.

Lee carried his son into the RV and laid Tyler down on the couch without making sure the door was shut. Clementine already sat there, squeezing a pillow against her chest. She slid over to the side to allow room for Tyler. Ben sat in a chair next to the dining table, bowl in front of him. The other chair sat empty. The RV door closed when the vehicle started moving.

Katjaa was back next to the sink, washing her hands. "Take his shirt off," she told him.

Carley was up front, probably acting as Kenny's navigator with Katjaa back here. Lee wasn't sure if Katjaa could be relied upon, as half her face was covered in blood anyway, but she was the group doctor. She shut off the faucet on the sink and flicked her wrists. The RV, unfortunately had no towels.

Lee removed Tyler's shirt, cursing himself again for not telling Clementine to go sit with Ben or Duck. "Clem, get the water from Ben, please," Katjaa requested. She did as told, setting down her pillow under Tyler's shoulder. She handed the bowl to Katjaa, who graciously accepted. "Thank you, sweetie. Would you mind going back to your drawing?"

"No, I guess not." She went back over to the dining table and sat in the empty chair, but did not start drawing again.

"Lee. Wash your hands, please." Katjaa stepped up beside him. She held up a gauze pad.

Lee reluctantly turned away from his son and used the sink to cleanse his hands. Once he was done, he turned off the water and flicked his wrists to dry his hands, just like Katjaa did. He turned to face the veterinarian. "What do you need?" Lee asked.

"Just hold him still while I clean the wound." She wetted the pad with the remnants of the water droplets on her fingertips. She wiped at both sides of Tyler's wound, raising him off his back to get the back of his shoulder, where the bullet had entered. Lee lightly pressed against Tyler's stomach to keep him from moving. Even while unconscious, a person could still resist against pain. "Good. Move that pillow, I don't want to ruin it."

He did, and he gave the pillow back to Clementine, and she accepted it graciously. Lee returned his attention back to Katjaa. "What else do you need?"

"Kenny? Can you stop for a moment?" Katjaa said loudly.

"Sure thing." The RV slowed to a halt, everyone shifting forward a tiny bit in response.

Katjaa raised Tyler's head and placed something into his mouth. A pill of some sort. "Get that water to wash it down."

Lee retrieved the filled bowl from the table and lowered its rim to Tyler's lips. "What is it?"

"A painkiller. It was all I had on me when the bandits attacked." Tyler choked a tiny bit on the painkiller, but swallowed it with the aid of the water. "That and this," Katjaa said, patting her sidearm beneath her jacket.

She let go of Tyler's head gently, setting it back down against the couch's texture. She opened and unrolled the gauze pad. "Help me sit him up," Katjaa ordered.

He set the bowl in the sink after emptying its contents. Lee put one hand on Tyler's hip, the other on his uninjured shoulder, and propped his back against the couch. Katjaa wrapped the bandage from the pad over his shoulder and across his rib cage into a tight knot. With the gauze in place, she licked her thumb and pressed it against her patient's shoulder, testing the bandage's durability. Tyler didn't make any audible noises in response. The gauze was okay.

Katjaa sighed. "What happened to him?"

"Lilly," Lee breathed.

"Lilly? Where is she?" She craned her head around to look for her.

"Gone," Lee replied.

"What?" Katjaa's eyes widened.

"She tried to kill Carley and almost killed Tyler. We couldn't keep her with us."

She shut her eyes at that. She turned away from him - apparently opening her eyes - and turned on the sink faucet again, washing her hands. She left it running, presumably for him to use, and went back up front to be with her family.

Lee washed his own hands again, though it didn't feel like he needed to. He wasn't the one with blood on his hands. He turned the faucet off.

Lee returned to Tyler's side and put his shirt back on, if just for Clementine's sake. She moved back over to the couch, not in the mood for drawing. She sat down a few inches from the couch's edge, as if ready to stand up.

Carley came back from the front of the vehicle and looked at Lee apologetically. "It wasn't your fault," Lee said, trying to guess what she was thinking.

"I'd be dead if it weren't for Tyler," she voiced her opinion. "Dead. Lying on the side of the road. Gone."

"Maybe," Lee admitted. "But you're not. Neither is Tyler." He wanted to say that it was all Lilly's fault, but that didn't seem appropriate: they should have been able to tell what she was going to try, Lee most of all.

"I don't know. Part of me would rather have killed Lilly, you know. I don't like that feeling."

"Believe me, I was tempted, but I couldn't do it. Not again." _I killed five people today. I don't need to kill a sixth. Carley killed two people today, I should be asking how she's feeling. "_Are you okay?"

"Are you kidding? Of course not," Carley said. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

_Never mind, then_. "I just wanted to see how you're feeling."

Carley sighed. "Sorry. I'm a little worked up, as you can see." She looked at the unoccupied dining table seat. "I'm gonna take a nap."

Without waiting for a reply from Lee, she dragged herself over to the seat across from Ben. Lee heard the chair scrape the floor right as he turned to face Clementine. "You okay?" he asked the young girl.

"Katjaa needs you for something," she stated. She didn't look up at him. They all jolted forward when the vehicle started again.

Lee paced himself over to the front of the recreational vehicle by keeping his hand on the compartment bar while he walked. He spared a glance for the sink, hearing a slight drop of liquid impact the ground coming from there. The faucet had a leak, though they didn't have the tools nor the time to deal with it.

"What's up?" Lee asked as he joined the driver, placing his hands on the back of his seat for steadiness. He noticed Duck passed out on Katjaa's lap. _But, two gunshots._.. "Is Duck feeling all right?"

Kenny and Katjaa exchanged a worried look. They returned their eyes in front of them. Katjaa reached hand across Duck's side and lifted that segment of his shirt. Lee looked at the exposed skin.

It was a bite mark.

"What the fuck..." Lee cursed silently. He had nothing else to say.

"Happened during the raid," Kenny informed slowly. His eyes remained on the long road ahead.

Lee shoved down his horror at seeing Duck bitten. Now was not the time. "What's the plan? We've never had a bite victim in the group before."

Katjaa looked thoughtful as she lowered Duck's shirt. "I'm going to keep an eye on him and see what I can do, from a medical perspective."

"We keep the same plan unless something changes," Kenny exacerbated. At least, it exacerbated Lee, as in something already had changed. "East."

Something had already changed. "Guys..." Lee challenged, skeptical. _We all know what a bite does. We knew it even before Ben explained the infection to us_.

"What else is there to do?!" Katjaa demanded. Her eyes turned to Kenny. "We thought you should know."

Kenny looked up at Lee, taking his eyes off the road and giving the professor an earnest expression. "Important to stay honest with each other." Kenny bore his head back into the driver's seat head rest and faced the road again.

"Anyway, if you could tell Clementine, we would appreciate it."

Lee nodded to Katjaa. He turned around, bracing himself for Clementine's reaction.

Clementine had set the pillow down beside her, and she was sadly inspecting her fingernails. She didn't look up as Lee approached and sat between her and Tyler. He raised an arm around her shoulders to keep her warm. She melted into his embrace, lying against his chest, feet stacked close against the cushion of the couch.

Lee looked down at her, but couldn't see her face due to her cap. Lee resigned to just look straight ahead. He glanced at Tyler to make sure he was sleeping. He was, so now he had less of an audience. Lee looked up and shifted around uncomfortably. He looked down but saw nothing worth talking about.

He couldn't decide where to look while saying this. He was about to tell Clementine that her best friend would die soon. What good way to say it was there?

He inwardly sighed and settled his gaze on the roof. "Duck is bitten."

"Huh?" Clementine asked, shocked.

"He got bit by a walker trying to escape the motel," Lee explained.

Clementine's head dug deeper into his chest, but he didn't stop her. "I... don't feel good. What about Tyler?"

Lee placed his hand on his son's uninjured shoulder, which was sticking up while laying on his right shoulder. "There's nothing to say," Lee issued to her. "It was horrible of Lilly to do this."

Her head raised to look at him. "I'm sorry if I-"

"No," Lee cut her off. "You don't apologize; you had nothing to do with it, sweet pea."

Clementine reset herself onto his chest, satisfied with his interjection. Lee let the silence unfold, but realized he had to get Clementine's mind off of Duck. He racked his brain for ideas.

"I miss my parents," Lee said, hoping it was the right move.

"Me, too," Clementine responded dejectedly.

"I know," Lee acknowledged softly. Lee suddenly smiled. "My mom played the tuba."

"Really," she grinned. It disappeared after a moment, but that was worth something.

"She was a really small lady. It was strange. This one time my brother thought it would be funny to fill her tuba full of flour on April Fool's Day. And that same day, she thought it'd be funny to wake me up for school by playing it right in my face."

"What happened?" she asked, curious. He knew her voice sounded innocent there, but he knew she was thinking of mischief.

"Just about what you'd expect," Lee said with a smile.

She chuckled briefly. "That's funny."

"Yeah. I don't know why I remembered that."

The faucet over at the sink leaked again, though it seemed louder this time than it had before. _Clip. Clip. Clip. Clip. _Lee tried to ignore it, but the roaring of the RV's engine suddenly boomed in his ears. Her eyes locked on his. _Her eyes? Who's-_

Carley sat in the dining table chair, face pressed against the table. Carley's eyes were closed peacefully. Ben sat across from her, his face also against the tabletop, but hidden by the water bowl. _What's the bowl doing there? I put it in the sink. How-_

Her eyes locked on his.

The RV stopped. Lee looked at Kenny for an explanation, but found him slumped in his seat, cheek against the window. Katjaa held a similar position. Duck had already been asleep, but his legs kept twitching. _Is he turning?_ Lee thought with alarm. He took a closer look and realized his twitching was a result of the road bumps in the RV. _But Kenny's asleep. What- _

Her eyes locked on his.

Lee's head fell forward, eyelids a thousand pounds heavier. His eyes found Tyler's unmoving body to his left. The bandages were turning red, blood flowing again from the wound. Lee tried to get up, but was too tired to even ask Clementine for help. All he could do was stare at Tyler as the gauze slowly raised from the tide of blood. _Shouldn't his shirt be on?_ Lee turned to look for Tyler's shirt, and found it over Clementine's sleeping figure. He feebly attempted to use his right arm draped around her to grab Tyler's shirt, or even to wake her up, but couldn't find the strength.

His head slumped forward again, trying to force him into sleep. He resisted, but could feel himself losing this battle. _I'm dying,_ he thought. _There's no other explanation_. _No reason I should be this tired_. Clementine had to get away from him.

At least he'd die next to his son-

Her eyes locked on his.

The RV trailer door opened. A figure with brown skin and flowing white clothes entered the vehicle. Judging by its legs' gait and frame, he determined it was a living, breathing woman. He wanted to call for help, but could barely manage to stay awake. _Why did Kenny stop?_

The white cloth spread out only behind her, so Lee could see the front of her legs beneath her knees without difficulty, unless one counted his overall blurriness. Her hands were in his line of sight, so he trailed them with his eyes. Her right hand reached out first, and it went towards Tyler. _Move, Lee_. _Move!_ He needed to stop her.

His left hand, currently resting on Tyler's shoulder, stirred to life. He raised it a fraction of an inch before he lost control of it again. He could only look on helplessly as she did as she pleased with his son.

Her right hand came in contact with Tyler's cheek. She rubbed it affectionately before lowering her head to kiss it. Lee's eyes weren't focused enough to see her body, as he couldn't raise his head, but he would have been able to see the woman's face if her wavy, black hair hadn't fallen around the sides of her head.

Lee raised his left hand again, getting it a little higher before losing his containment of it. The woman stood up straight again and removed her hand from Tyler's face. She then extended her left hand and inched it towards Clementine. Lee was more generally inclined to the left while slumped as it was, so he couldn't trace her hand all of the way. Basically, his peripheral vision ended as her fingertips brushed against Clementine's cheek. Unlike with Tyler, she didn't rub Clementine's face. She merely held Clementine's head steady.

Lee could see her body this time. The white robe around her had no sleeves, keeping her arms clear. They contained several scars all over, like jagged scratches from pieces of wood. Or lightning bolts carved into her arms. In fact, as he saw it, her legs had the same appearance.

She bent over to kiss Clementine's forehead, and Lee could do nothing to stop her. He tried again to move his left arm. He had feeling in his left hand's fingers, but that was about it. His pinky finger tried to work its way to the couch's back for support in climbing up.

Lee's tampered vision prevented him from seeing the white clothed woman's face, as her head was too high. She pulled back after leaving a kiss planted on Clementine's face. She stood up straight.

Lee's pinky finger reached the couch back.

The woman's left hand suddenly shot out and gripped Lee's chin. His face pressed in a tiny bit, he was able to open his eyes a tiny bit more. The woman pulled his chin forward. Then, with two fingers under it, his chin lurched up.

The woman's face was in view now, but his vision was still too blurry to pick out any detail or context. Her other hand raised into a fist, fingers clenched tight. Lee braced himself for the blow and, strangely enough with the fact that his eyelids were so heavy and his mind was so sluggish he was sure he'd been drugged, Lee couldn't close his eyes.

Her fist reared back, and rocketed into his direct eyesight, and stopped. Two finger extended from her right hand. Lee felt them both caress his eyelids.

His eyes snapped open, and he found himself looking down. Lee still felt those fingers against his chin, and he still couldn't move, but at least his vision-

Lee's vision immediately began to deteriorate. _Better make this count_, Lee thought. With her help, his chin raised again, but by the time his eyes found her face, his vision was off again. As if noticing his haziness, she shook his head from side to side. A single, lucid moment was awarded to him.

Her eyes locked on his.

"Ashley," he breathed.

Ashley Everett, or whatever she might have changed her last name to. Lee's last memory of seeing her was wearing white bedsheets to disguise her nudity from him. Right as she called the police.

Her green eyes were not kind.

Lee tried to speak up again, but couldn't find the strength to. What he did do, however, was inch his ring finger on his left hand to the couch back. His eyes lost their focus again, and he found himself both unable to widen his eyes and unable to close them.

"Already, you've let our son die," Ashley accused. Her voice echoed slightly in his head. "Shot by a bullet meant for your girlfriend."

I didn't shoot him. Lilly did.

_"_You should have stopped her."

_You're right_, Lee admitted internally. Was Ashley reading his mind?

"And you've chosen a new favorite," Ashley said, gesturing to Clementine. "You weren't there for our son. Don't you know he was forced to kill to stay alive?"

Lee's ring finger reached the outline of the couch.

"Some cop in Atlanta," Ashley continued. Lee's eyebrows would have risen there if they could've. "Killed his friend, apparently. Another boy who saved his life."_ How would Ashley know this?_ Lee wondered.

Shawn. Lee remembered Hershel's son telling him about a guy in Atlanta killing a kid. He hadn't ever really considered that Tyler was in Atlanta. If he had, he might have gone with Glenn at the start. He was lucky to have his son now.

Lee's left hand reached the couch.

"She wouldn't know how to do any of that. Clementine," she finished, saying the little girl's name distastefully. "She needs help from you, Tyler needs love from you, not the other way around. Accept that."

She let go of Lee's chin and his head promptly slumped forward again. His hand reached the top of the couch, and he began to push on it to level himself out, but the strength in his arm fled before he could. He barely managed to keep that hand on the rim of the soft couch.

Ashley got down to her knees looking up into his dimmed eyes. Both of her hands cupped his head. The warm texture of her fingers made him want to sleep even more, but his eyes wouldn't allow it. Her eyes casted on a more gentle look than before.

"Oh, Lee. Why couldn't you just keep Tyler safe? Does he really mean so little to you that you'd allow him to die?"

_I'm trying to save him_.

"Did it hurt at all to see him suffer? To watch him toil in the dirt? Our son, Lee. Our's." Ashley's eyes demanded an answer. Lee's mouth wouldn't move though.

"You always wanted a son. You wished and prayed for one, but once you got one, you didn't protect him."

_He's not dead!_ Lee screamed in his head.

She leaned up and kissed him on the mouth. He wanted so badly to push her off, as he had fallen for another woman now, but neither his mind nor body could allow it. His arm received more power, and he tried to lift himself off of the couch, but he didn't get nearly enough leverage.

Her tongue entered his mouth. Lee wanted to bite it off. He thought he had loved his wife at one point. Now he wanted her dead beyond reason.

She pulled back. She gave a smile that couldn't have possibly have been any more hostile and stood up. She placed her hand on Tyler's cheek again. "I think he's chosen his favorite, too," Ashley taunted.

Lee's arm adjusted to place his legs firmly underneath him. He still couldn't trail himself to his feet. Ashley turned away and opened the trailer door again. She looked back at him devilishly and winked.

She walked out and closed the door behind her.

His strength flooded him in an instant. He gasped in shock at the return of power to his limbs and eyes. Lee prepared to chase after his ex-wife, but felt Clementine stir beside him. She looked up at Lee with entirely white eyes.

"Clem! FUCK!" Lee exclaimed. His arms flew into her shoulders defensively. She tried clawing her way into him, but he held on before she could bite him. Lee was held steadfast, too horrified at the sight before him to call out for help. "Holy shit! What happened?"

Tyler stirred from his left, and his head raised to reveal eyes without irises. He lunged for Lee's thigh and bit into it, drawing blood out of it. Lee screamed in pain and slackened in his wrists. Clementine closed in on his neck. He shut his eyes in anticipation.

Lee's eyes snapped open, revealing the light of day streaming in on the moving RV. He felt a familiar, warm weight pressed against his chest and another against his hip.

"We've got something up ahead," Kenny said.

Lee got up, leaving Tyler and Clementine to sleep, and went over to Kenny.

"Dammit," Kenny cursed. "Road's blocked." He stopped the RV in front of a train wreck, most of the cars in line derailed a short distance behind the driver lead. "Now we have to deal with this."

Lee, Ben, and Kenny got out to inspect it. "Is there any way to get around it?" Ben asked.

"Doesn't look like it," Kenny answered. "On foot, maybe. Can't really afford to do that now."

"This seems like a safe area," Lee observed. "All this brush will stop anything from creeping up on us."

The rest of the group minus Tyler exited the RV and joined them. Ben turned to Lee. "Why don't you and I go look around?" the young man suggested.

Katjaa sat down on a fallen tree and placed Duck on her lap. He looked absolutely depressed; Lee could hardly blame him. It's not everyday you wake up for the last time. Lee had no idea what he'd do if he were ever to get bit. He'd probably just shoot himself.

Clementine sat down on a different fallen tree. Every few seconds, she'd eye Duck in a sidelong glance, as if to confirm her friend was truly dying. Kenny sat next to her, probably so he could have a good view of the road to keep watch for walkers.

"Yeah," Lee said, turning the rest of the group, "everyone else relax. Clem, stay close to Kenny and Kat, okay?" Carley moved close to the group to take a seat, when Lee stopped her and pulled her aside over to the RV trailer.

"What's up, Lee?" she asked. Carley undoubtedly looked better than ever in that moment. She hadn't really seen a full night's sleep until now. Now that she was finally sleeping, Carley would be much more aware. Yet despite all that, despite her body probably feeling much better, there was still a shadowy gloom cast over her features. Lee could guess why.

"Can you stay with Tyler in the RV?" Lee asked.

"Tyler isn't staying in the RV," Tyler announced, startling them both by appearing in the doorway of the RV. His shirt was bloody, and he was having trouble standing firm, but he was capable of keeping still by leaning his hands on the door frame. "There's a fucking train right there."

Lee scowled at his son's swearing. "You need your rest." He folded his arms, as if it were a sort of shield against persuasion.

"And I'll get some; after we're done here." Tyler shakily stepped out.

He stumbled when his foot hit the ground, but Carley held him steady. "I've got him," she said.

Before Lee could object, Tyler spoke up again. "Dad, I know I need rest, but I can't stay in that RV anymore. Plus, I'm pretty sure I could help with the train. You know I'm better at mechanics than anyone else here."

That was true. Damn, storming logic. Unfortunately, the group needed the train to move, and Tyler could definitely help.

"You know that could get infected out here, right?" Lee asked.

"I still have my bandages, and Katjaa's got the painkillers. I think I'll be fine."

"Fine," Lee relented. "But you're staying with Katjaa unless I need help."

"Deal." With Carley's aid, Tyler made it over to the tree Katjaa rested on. He sat down, and Katjaa slipped him something small. A painkiller. Tyler popped it into his mouth.

"Lee," Katjaa said, "if you come across anything to drink, if there's a dining car or something, I think Duck's a bit dehydrated." The sink in the RV had water, but Duck probably didn't want tap water.

"It's a freighter, hon," Kenny informed her of his doubts. "Be careful in there," Kenny advised Lee.

"What, you think there might be something dangerous inside of an abandoned locomotive?" Lee asked sarcastically. "Hadn't crossed my mind." Lee walked over to Clementine. "Hey, sweet pea. You okay out here?"

She glanced at the sick Duck. "I don't think Duck feels good."

"Me, neither." Lee walked over to Ben.

"Hey, Lee," Ben greeted.

"Hey, Ben. So, what would you have done with Lilly?"

"I don't know. Left her?"

"Well," Lee said, "that's what I did. You happy you stayed with us all this time?"

"Yeah," he said exuberantly.

"Really?"

"It's with you guys or dead, I woulda died out there in the woods, just like my classmates."

"You think this is better?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, of course."

Lee walked up the staircase to enter the boxcar. He opened the door while Ben slid open the railway.

Lee found a bunch of supplies stacked inside in a hammock setting.

"Whoa," Ben commented.

"Somebody's been living here," Lee said.

"Yeah, man. Shit. Think they're gone?" Ben was still nervous about meeting new people. Though based on their experiences, he could find no fault in that line of thinking. _How many bandits were there, anyway?_

Too many.

"I hope so, but this looks recently used," Lee stated thoughtfully. "Be on the lookout and have your guard up."

Ben nodded and left the train car.

Lee stepped forward to scavenge the supplies, when his foot accidentally kicked something and it scraped forwards across the artificial floor. _A clipboard? _Lee thought._ A map of where the train goes. I think these tracks might lead to the coast. Route 27, Savannah. That's where Kenny got us headed._

Something else in the corner drew his attention: bottled water._ I'll take this to Katjaa for Duck. _Lee took the bottle and walked to the next train car close to the front. As much as he wanted to care for Duck, making sure the group would be safe there was absolutely necessary.

"Shit." A walker slept on the engineer panel. Ben joined Lee from behind. "We got one," Lee whispered. "Walker. Sitting in the chair. We got 'im."

Lee took out his pistol and pointed it at the undead body while opening the door to the train cabin. He inched closer to the unmoving train engineer, silently cursing himself after a floor panel creaked under his weight. As he approached the walker, his gun brushed the back of its head. It suddenly fell forward. Lee realized it had already been dead.

"Suppose we oughta look him over," Lee stated.

"Yeah," Ben agreed.

Lee threw the corpse to the floor. Its head was caved in, face frozen in the middle of some horrific trauma. The glass above the control panel was cracked, so Lee could safely assume a sudden lurch killed him.

"I don't think this guy came back," Ben said.

"Christ," Lee said, disgusted. He looked down but something caught his eye. "That light is blinking." He pointed at it.

"Push it!" Ben shouted.

_Not so loud, _Lee groaned inwardly. "Push it?"

"Why not?" Ben asked.

"Are you fucking serious?" Lee asked.

"Here, look." Ben pushed the button.

The engine hissed. "It's just the brakes," Ben said.

"Okay, I'll give you that one," Lee complimented.

Kenny entered through the cabin door. "This fucker _works_?"

"Seems like it," Lee said.

"I'll be damned," Kenny noted. "How the hell do we get it movin'?"

"I don't know, ask Mister Amtrak over here." He gestured to the school band performer with his head.

"No clue," Ben stated simply. He grabbed the dead engineer by his wrists and dragged him out the front of the train.

"We found this in the boxcar back there," Lee said. He handed Kenny the clipboard bound map he found.

"Whoa, is this what it looks like?" Kenny asked, inspecting the route.

"I think so," Lee answered.

"Holy shit," Kenny remarked, thrilled. "This hoss will take us right to Savannah. A hundred tons of steel. Put a thousand walkers between us and the ocean and we don't have to give a shit! I can't believe it..."

"I wouldn't mind plowing through some walkers," Lee commented.

"That's the spirit," Kenny said. "Try to get this thing started. There's gotta be some sort of... manual or somethin'."

"Ha, I don't know about that."

Ben walked into the train again without the engineer's corpse. "Ben, if you could keep an eye on the kids and Kat, I'd appreciate it. I'm going to make sense of these controls." Ben walked out again. "Man, this could be exactly what we need."

"Shit," Lee exclaimed. "This is it. The controls to the train."

And the pages were gone. "Dammit!" Lee exclaimed. "I can kinda see the indentations from the writing." _I have no fucking idea what to do with these controls. _Lee sighed and went out the door where Ben threw corpse out.

Suddenly, a walker growled at Lee from a car wreckage right next to the train. Fortunately, it was secured by a seat belt. _I thought those things were designed to save lives. This door's gonna hurt. "_Okay. You aren't gonna like this." Lee pushed the seat belt button and let the walker free, but immediately smashed the monster's face in with the car door. He looked under the seat where the walker had been pinned in and found a box of animal crackers. _That should make the kids happy_. He pocketed the snack.

Lee returns to the kids. "Here. I found some water."

"Ah, thank you, perfect," Katjaa said happily. "He's allergic to bees."

"Is that right?" Lee asked, feigning intrigue for the grieving mother and dying boy.

"It's all I can think about," Katjaa answered. "Like somehow that matters."

"It doesn't."

"I know. Well, I don't. But you're probably right."

"I found these, too. If Duck is up for it." Lee gave the animal crackers to Katjaa.

"Thank you. That's very thoughtful. He isn't fussy, you know? Most kids, they're really fussy about what they'll eat. Hate vegetables, that kind of thing."

"Not Duck, huh?" Lee smiled.

"No. The most trouble I ever have is getting him to use a fork."

Lee understood what she was doing: she wasn't trying to understand what was happening to Duck. She was trying to understand _why_ it was happening. She was trying to prove to the world what an innocent boy Duck was.

"Thank you, Lee." She suddenly frowned and held her son a little tighter, making him cough.

"Sure." He stood up straight and walked over to Clementine. "Do you have any pencils or anything in your pack?"

"No," she said. "I wish. What do you need it for?"

"There used to be something on the notepad that I need to know about. And your leaf rubbing thing gave me an idea."

"Oh. Well, if you don't end up using it, I'd take it. There are a lot of new leaves that I can draw on."

"There's a pencil in the RV," Tyler said from beside her.

"Thanks," Lee said. He went to the RV. In the cup holder in the front, a pencil was just sitting there. He took it with him back to the front of the train. He scribbled on the pad and the indentations made visible words. _Perfect_.

"You can read it now?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah," Lee answered. "Should be able to just follow the steps to get the engine on."

"Sounds good."

With just a few pushes of buttons and flipping of switches on the dashboard, some more lights turned on.

"Son of a bitch! Whatever you just did lit the dash up!"

"So far so good."

With flips of switches- Lee even exiting the train car to find the final switch, hidden behind one of the four compartment panels- the train's engine turned on. "Holy shit, we're golden!" Kenny exclaimed, leaving the engine car

"Yeah, we are. Golden. Man, feels good." Lee smiled in accomplishment.

"Let's fucking enjoy this," Kenny said, looking up at the vast expanse of the sky. "C'mon, let's see if she'll move." Lee closed the panel doors.

They both went back inside the cabin, ready for a test run. Kenny sat in the seat the dead engineer had sat in before, simply saying "She's all yours," giving Lee permission to pull the throttle.

Lee reached his hand past Kenny's shoulder and pulled back on the tension valve above the button Ben had pushed to disable the emergency brakes. The train hitched forward, then yanked itself back, sending a slight shock up Lee's body.

"God dammit!" Kenny proliferated his exasperation by speaking it aloud. "Of course, we're still attached. Can you go find out where we're stuck, and get it _un_-stuck?"

"Yeah," Lee said. He exited the cabin through the rail door and proceeded to the box car. "Tyler!" he called out, waving his arms inward in a small circle. "Come help me with the attachment."

Tyler hastily stood up and limped over to the boxcar's open gate. Carley frowned at him, wondering why he was asking for Tyler to help him, but did not object. Lee entered using the rail door, just in time to notice Tyler scramble up the short distance of the boxcar freight door. He did it with one good arm, barely able to support his own weight. Lee bent down to help him, grabbing his good shoulder and pulling him into the boxcar.

Tyler stood up, greeting his father. "You need something?"

"How would you unhook a train car?" Lee asked.

Tyler paused for a moment. "With... the conjoining pilot?" he guessed hesitantly.

"Where would I find that?"

"In between the cars. We could find it out back." Tyler gestured to the other side of the boxcar, which was already open.

Lee hopped down to the grass, holding his hands out to help his son. Tyler ignored it though, handling himself down alone. Lee let his arms dangle for a moment, unsure of how- as Tyler's father- he was supposed to react. He dropped his arms and just decided to let it slide as a matter of pride.

Tyler led him over to the back of the boxcar, looking for the "conjoining pilot." Lee wasn't sure if that was what the object was truly called though. "That's definitely what's got us stuck," Tyler stated, referring to the pin hooking into the pilot.

"Well, let's pull it out then," Lee said. Lee tried to pull it with his hand, but wouldn't budge. "There's got to be a better way to do this."

"Looks like that'll get that pin out," Tyler pointed out, gesturing to what Lee assumed would be called the conjoining bar.

"Let's try it," Lee said. He pulled on the bar, but it was broken, a sharp section chartered off. _Wonder what caused it to break. _Lee looked at the back of the train_. Derailed._

_"_Got an idea." Tyler stepped in front of Lee. Bolstering himself with the conjoining bar, he heaved himself up the ladder on the back of the boxcar. Lee reached out to stop him, but thought better of it. _If Tyler falls, _Lee rationalized, _his wound will get worse, but better he strain his shoulder than fall. Please don't fall in your own._

At the third rung, Tyler turned, placing his back on the ladder and stringing his arms inside of it, locking elbows on the sides. He placed his feet underneath the locking pin, flexing his toes upwards. "Pull on the pin," Tyler ordered.

"What?" Lee asked, confused.

"Pull on the pin," Tyler repeated. "I'll get leverage."

Lee shrugged, but did as Tyler asked. He placed both hands on the pin, ready to pull. Tyler nodded, and suddenly, Lee's muscles flared as he pried the pin out of the conjoining pilot. It didn't budge, though, and Lee had to let go lest he seriously scrape his palms.

Tyler strained, not stopping. "Stop," Lee said. "It's not working."

"Come on," Tyler grunted. "Almost... got it." The metal creaked, close to the breaking point. Tyler's knees buckled, still attempting to lift his feet to meet his waist.

"Tyler!" Lee called. Tyler was going to break his back if he didn't stop.

Tyler's legs slackened and his body slumped as the pilot prevailed. Tyler let out a groan as he dropped the eighty pound weight. He started gasping for breath.

"This isn't working," Tyler said through gasps. "The pin's wedged."

"I'll look around for something to help with that," Lee announced. The branch hadn't worked, so Lee knew he had to find something metallic in order to pry out the pin. He opted to check out the hidden compartments next to the panel outside of the cabin- the one that he used last to start the train. If nothing else, perhaps he could take off one of the doors and use that.

Lee paced himself slowly to rest his muscles on his way back to the railway to the engine car. After reaching the train's engine compartments, he checked the one directly to the right of the priming panel. He opened a set of light double doors to reveal a stock of three metallic tools. On the left door, a spike remover hung from a rack. _That'd bash through a walker's skull pretty good, _Lee mused. On the right side door, two engineer's tools were propped against another rack: a spanner and a monkey wrench. He looked at the monkey wrench distastefully. _A little rusty_. His eyes picked out the spanner. _Nice_, he thought. No rust, no visible damage, clean.

He picked up the metal tool, testing its weight in both of his palms. It felt sturdy, and nothing rattled inside of it as he shook it. Satisfied, he pocketed the spanner- with some difficulty due to its large size- and picked the spike remover out too. _I could probably give this to Ben or Carley_. Ignoring the rusty, iron monkey wrench on his right, he closed the doors slowly to avoid making noise.

He paced himself slowly again on his journey to get back to Tyler. He hopped down the short distance from the boxcar to the dirt similar to Tyler's actions earlier.

Lee paused before coming into Tyler's view. How was he supposed to respond to how Tyler waved off his help? As a father, it was his duty to protect and teach his son how to grow up. To develop. If Tyler wouldn't let him do so, what was he supposed to do then.

_He thinks you're a failure_, a dark, hateful voice whispered in his head. Ashley. _You are._

_Get out of my head, _Lee demanded inwardly. Insanity. The bandits. That screaming woman from Macon. The St. John's. Jolene. Shawn. Irene. Doug. Mark. Larry. Duck. Lilly.

How many have them have I killed? How many bandits died at my hands? Five? Did Danny actually die? He wasn't so innocent, but neither was Jolene. Should I have stopped him? What about Doug? I let him get eaten, just like Hershel's boy. I told Kenny that Duck should get over it, but I still haven't. What about that poor bitten girl who lived at the motel? Could I have done more for her? Forced her to come with us? I should have realized the St. John's were hiding something, shouldn't have let Mark go into their house alone. I watched Larry die, even stopped Lilly from helping him. Duck got bitten because I wasn't fast enough. Did I kill Lilly by leaving her on the side of the road?

Those people had driven him to the edge of insanity- some through their actions, others through their deaths, some through both- and now he was tipping over. Lee objectively realized that he was going over the edge, and he needed help to stay sane. Tyler's help.

_I need to get to the bottom of this, _Lee mentally declared_. I need to know if my son is turning into a killer_. Ever since that night the week before when Clementine had roused him from sleep, he had been uneasy with letting Tyler hold a gun when not on watch. Lee had been too concerned with what might happen if his son walked around unsupervised with a murder weapon in his waistband. Unfortunately, thanks to Lilly's post-St. John-proclamation on everybody always carrying guns, he didn't have a choice. Tyler had said that he had killed before. The fact that he didn't want to talk about it was precisely why Lee needed to discuss it.

Lee stepped forward, finally in Tyler's view. When Tyler turned to face him, Lee held up the spanner. "I found something."

"We're not trying to pull out a key, Dad," Tyler said.

"What?" Lee asked, inspecting the tool.

"That thing's for a bullhead key. Not a coupler pin."

"Wait, wait, wait, I thought that thing that's keeping us attached is a conjoining pilot," Lee inquired.

Tyler looked down from his high point towards his feet. "I.. made a mistake. It's called a coupler pin."

"You sure this time?"

"Yes. And it doesn't matter anyway," Tyler said.

Lee held out the spanner, despite Tyler's protests to the thing's purpose. He hooked the flat edge underneath the pin's coupler bar and twisted upwards to create some space for Tyler to use. "Ready."

"Right," Tyler acknowledged. "Lift!" His legs suddenly strained as they attempted to rise. Lee twisted the spanner even more to allow Tyler more room to work with. Tyler heaved and heaved and heaved but just could not do it. With a huff of frustration, Tyler dropped the weight.

Outraged with his own failure, Tyler banged his head back against the lag of the ladder above his neck. He closed his eyes, clearly in shock. Lee removed the spanner and put his hand on his son's knee, trying to comfort him.

"Uh..." Tyler complained. "You have anything besides a spanner?"

"I found this," Lee announced, revealing the spike remover.

Tyler's eyes lit up. "Use that to lift." He maintained a firm grip on the ladder lag above him.

Doing what did before with the spanner, Lee raised the flat edge underneath the broken coupler pin. Pulling lightly, Lee looked up at Tyler, asking him if he was ready with his eyes. Tyler nodded, and they both raised their respective methods of unhooking the pin. The metal tore the sound from Lee's ears as he lost track of everything but his arms.

Tyler let go after a moment, and Lee did the same. Another failure.

"We need something stronger," Lee said calmly.

"Let me try something," Tyler responded, hopping down from the ladder. He held out his hand expectantly, looking at the spanner.

Lee handed it over, and Tyler turned back to the spike remover. He tried propping the spanner against the boxcar's wall and fashioning a lever. He wedged the butt of the spanner in between two pipes of the lower boxcar.

_Good a time as any,_ Lee thought. Lee decided to ease his son into the conversation. "So, where were you when all this started?"

"Atlanta. I stuck around in the courthouse for a while," Tyler said.

"Did you leave with anybody?" Lee asked.

"Atlanta or the courthouse?"

"Either one," Lee allowed.

"I left the courthouse alone, but I left Atlanta with someone else. Another kid my age." Tyler paused in his work, looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. "I wouldn't be here without him."

_What happened to him? How did he hurt you?_ "Who was he?"

"Derek Frost. Kid my age. Maybe a little younger." Tyler again tried pushing against the spanner, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Where's this 'Derek' go?" Lee questioned further. _Did Tyler kill him?_

"Six feet under," Tyler said, no humor to his tone. "That, or he's clawed his way out of the ground by now. We didn't know at the time that everyone was infected."

"How'd you find out?" Lee asked, as if feeling like he was close to the source.

"From Grandma and Grandpa's store. Remember that crashed chopper I told you about?"

"All too well." The sight of that chopper in the roof of the drugstore the day before had pained him; seeing his parents' life being reduced to rubble.

"One of the pilots jumped at me, but he wasn't bitten. I put him down with that survival knife I... used on Gary."

"Gary? Oh, you mean the bandit," Lee blurted out. He was secretly dismayed- though he gave no visible indication- that he'd trailed off topic. "What happened to Derek, again?"

"He's dead. Shot in the chest. Bled out. Buried him. What do you want me to say?"

"Who shot him?" Lee asked suspiciously. Tyler clenched his fist and but his upper lip. Not a good sign, either one, but Lee needed to press on.

"Dumb cop," Tyler breathed through a clamped jaw. "Fucking asshole. We just wanted directions to the Atlanta safe zone, but he just shot him."

Lee dimly remembered Shawn Greene telling him about a guy in Atlanta killing a boy in front of him, and briefly wondered if Derek Frost had been that boy, but discarded the thought after he realized that Shawn said the boy had been shot in the head. "What happened to the cop?"

Tyler fixed the spanner into place. "Did to him what he did to Derek," he spat with contempt. Tyler climbed back up the ladder to the point of where he was before and turned around, placing his back and arm crooks into the ladder's handholds for steadiness. "Push down on the spanner." Tyler's legs hooked underneath what remained of the coupler bar.

"Maybe you should just let me try this alone so you don't hurt yourself," Lee suggested.

"Push down on the goddamn spanner!" Tyler roared back. He bit his upper lip furiously.

Hesitant, Lee placed both hands on the spanner: one for stillness, the other for pressure. He wasn't exactly privy to what this was supposed to accomplish, but he did as Tyler asked. With a loud grunt, Tyler raised his feet up, attempting to pull up the coupler pin.

The pin raised higher that it ever had before, though not high enough for Lee to grab it and remove it. Lee pushed down with both hands now, no longer keeping the spanner still with one hand. The increased strength lifted up the pin to the point where Lee could see the scratches on the base from their previous attempts.

Tyler placed his hands on the lag above him, pulling upwards with his arms and legs. Finally, with one last surge of power, the pin came free, popping out with a metallic ring. With his right hand, Lee lifted the hook- now easier to move without being latched onto place- to meet the boxcar they had come in through.

Tyler settled down, both emotionally and physically at their accomplishment. He removed the spanner and spike remover and gave them both back to Lee. He exhaled a long breath, mainly of exhaustion, but Lee detected something else in that breath.

Sadness.

"What's wrong?"

Tyler exhaled again. "I wasn't even sick that day."

"What day?"

"Ironically, you got sick instead," Tyler added dejectedly.

"What are you talking about?" Lee demanded softly.

Tyler bit his upper lip. "The day Mom cheated on you." Thankfully, Tyler let go of the anger in his eyes, for the moment. "I wasn't even sick."

"What do you mean?"

"You think Mom would be so reckless that she'd do what she did with me in the house?" He shook his head. "No. I dipped the thermometer in your tea when you weren't looking. Didn't tell Mom I was still home, and I don't think you did either."

"I drank from that tea," Lee said, more to himself than Tyler as the dots connected in his head. If Tyler's thermometer, the one that had been in his mouth, had gone into his morning drink, it would explain why his sudden illness had assailed him at midday instead of when he had woke up that day. He had just assumed that he had caught something from one of his students or fellow professors.

"Yeah, and you came home early that day," Tyler commented.

Lee didn't know if he should be thankful that Tyler faked a fever or reprimand him for it. It wasn't like school mattered anymore, so it wouldn't reflect poorly on a teacher's son. But still, if Tyler hadn't made him sick, he never would have killed a senator. And he'd be none the wiser over his wife's indulgences.

"Nothing to say?" Tyler joked. "Trust me, Mom horrified me too."

"Listen..." Lee began uncomfortably. He still had no idea how to respond to Tyler's behavior as of late. It had always been simple: help Tyler come to terms with his past mistakes, accept his failures and have him learn from them. Here, he wasn't sure if Tyler had made any mistakes. "Sticking things in people's drinks isn't cool." Lee paused for laughter, but Tyler didn't give him any. "Your mom didn't do the right thing. You didn't do anything to punish yourself over."

Tyler rubbed his injured shoulder. "Maybe Zimmer wouldn't have gotten k- died."

"Yeah, maybe. But you didn't kill him, so don't blame yourself for anything." _Because if anything, I'm to blame,_ Lee added in his head.

"Yeah," Tyler responded. "Yeah," he repeated in a louder voice. "What about the cop, though? I believe I killed _him_."

"Did you find peace in his death?"

"No."

"Good. You should never feel peace in causing pain, son. If it makes you feel better, its a problem, but part of growing up is doing what's best for people you care about... even if, sometimes... that means hurting someone else. You made a choice, end of story. It may not have had the effect you hoped for, nor did it help you, but at least it can teach you for as long as you can remember it," Lee finished.

Tyler smiled. "Where'd you read that?"

"Uh... 'How to Sound Wise For Dummies'?" Lee said, hesitating before each syllable for effect.

Tyler held out his arms, and Lee met his son's embrace. He gently patted the back of the teenager's head, imagining that they were in their house again after Tyler ran to the garage door to greet him after a hard day's work.

"You okay?" Lee whispered into Tyler's ear.

"Better," Tyler informed.

"Ready to head back to the others?"

"Hell, yeah."

"Let's go." Lee craned his neck to gaze over the fallen trees and broken train haul towards the engine car. "Hey, Kenny, we're loose!" If Kenny had heard him, he gave no indication, as Lee heard nothing in response.

Lee hopped inside the boxcar, then turned around to help Tyler. Unlike last time, Tyler allowed himself to be pulled into the boxcar; extending his good arm's hand into Lee's and pulling himself inside. Lee stumbled backwards a bit when Tyler stood firm.

Tyler stepped towards the home setting canopy in the near corner of the boxcar. Lee stepped to his son's side, contemplating how they had gone from the motel to this.

"You touch any of my stuff?"

Lee wheeled around at the unexpected voice. In the opposite corner of the boxcar, an aging man in his late fifties stood with a white beard, a dirtied face and piercing brown eyes. His sharp eyes and angular features intimidated Lee.

Tyler spun in place and his hand reached for Lee's gun in his waistband. Lee gently knocked Tyler's hand away.

The gray maned stranger eyed Lee and stepped in closer.

"Who are you?" Tyler asked.

"The guy who owns that stuff," he returned in a grouchy voice, gesturing to the canopy setting with his head.

"I took the map of the train routes," Lee answered the man's question. Lee first noticed his raggedy clothes-his jacket ripe with tears- as he moved closer. They looked like they had been worn out for decades. Lee's eyes found a label: 1992. _He's been wearing that jacket for twenty years?_

"That's fine, you can have that," he said.

"Really?" Lee asked, skeptical of the stranger's motives.

"Yeah. I got 'em all up here." He pointed to his temple. He turned to his "stuff," and Lee saw Tyler do so as well. Not wanting to give the wrong impression, he faced the same area, one step behind them both. "I guess it's no worse for wear." He turned his head. "Name's Chuck. Charles if you're fancy."

"Lee."

"Tyler," Lee's son introduced.

"That your crew outside?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah," Lee said.

"And the guy up in the cab?" Chuck questioned. For some reason, Chuck's fingers flexed, as if ready to grab something.

"Him too."

"I saw you walking through here and thought about scaring the pants off of you," he smiled.

"What?" Lee asked, leaning back slightly in fear.

"But I couldn't force myself to do it."

_You sure about that?_ Lee asked in his mind. "You're still kinda freaking me out."

"Train folk'll do that." Chuck turned perpendicular to the door, allowing Lee a view of everyone else outside in the area near the RV. "Already met everyone outside; they all warmed to me right quick in direct sunlight." Chuck hopped out of the boxcar in the direction of the group. Concerned for Clementine's safety, Lee followed. Tyler lagged behind, staying in the boxcar.

Lee walked out into the opening on the side of the road, noticing Chuck where Kenny had been sitting before, a guitar next to him. Upon seeing him, Clementine stood up. "You met Chuck!" she said gleefully.

"Yeah..." Lee said, staring at the newcomer. "I did."

Clementine sat back down on the galled tree. "Where's Tyler?"

"On the train."

"It's so nice to meet someone normal for a change," Katjaa said, loud enough for everyone but Tyler and Kenny to hear.

Lee was about to announce his suspicions about Chuck, but was interrupted when Clementine sprang to her feet. "He gave us candy. Ben, too!"

Lee glanced at Ben, who returned an embarrassed expression with a yellow box of sweets in his palm. He chewed nervously.

Chuck stood up as Clementine sat down. "You have candy?" Lee asked. Lee wasn't sure how long it took, but the lack of power for air conditioning would have melted any chocolates and stuck any sweets.

"Boy got the last piece I had on me," Chuck smiled.

"Figures," Lee grumbled. Ben swallowed when Lee looked at him, then set the empty box down. You met Kenny?"

"Sure did." Chuck returned to his seat and picked up the guitar. "Man shares my love of the road."

"That's for certain."

Duck coughed in Katjaa's lap, as if trying to hawk up phlegm. He continued coughing while his mother tapped his back, trying to assist him. Chuck set down the guitar and bent forward to meet Katjaa's face. "I'm awfully sorry your son's not feeling good."

"I appreciate your concern," Katjaa said evenly.

The engine cabin's door opened, and Kenny hobbled down the ladder. Lee waved him over. "Well, with a little TLC I'm sure he'll be fit as a fiddle in no time," Chuck said. He stood up as Kenny joined Lee, standing behind the youngest of the group. "I can offer ya'll whatever I got, although it ain't much."

"Thank you," Katjaa said. She squinted as she looked up at Chuck, the sun glaring behind him. "We'd like to do the same."

"Why don't we hold off on-" Kenny began.

"Stay with us," Katjaa interrupted, "we'd like the company." Kenny and Katjaa exchanged glances. Chuck say back down and began strumming his guitar. Kenny went over to the boxcar, presumably to talk to Tyler away from Chuck. Carley just stared into space.

Lee joined Kenny and discovered that he was incorrect about Kenny's intentions before: Kenny had just been inspecting the wheels of the train. "So that's it? We cut loose?!"

"Seems that way, yeah," Lee responded.

"Great." Kenny faced the rest of the group. We don't got much left, so just gather whatever you have," Kenny invited. "Let's go."

Clementine was the first to stand, but she lingered behind for a moment, clutching her wrist nervously. Ben and Chuck walked to the boxcar, Kenny stopping the latter at the door. "Want a ride?"

"Well it sounds like you're taking my home," Chuck said ambiguously.

"That's a yes, then," Kenny muttered, annoyed.

"Haven't found anything better for keeping the creepy-crawlies out than that boxcar." He climbed aboard.

Clementine walked in front of Kenny- still clutching her wrist- and looked down. "Duck's sick."

"Get on the train, Clementine," the fisherman ordered brusquely. She did as ordered, accepting Chuck's hand in climbing aboard.

Katjaa appeared carrying Duck over one shoulder. "He's getting sicker," she shared.

"Let me look at him." He circle her to look at Duck's face. Duck looked up feebly, then set his face back down on Katjaa's shoulder. Kenny stepped back without saying anything.

"Is the train really a good idea, with Duck like that?" Carley asked from Lee's side. "Maybe we should focus on one thing at a time."

"_Yes," _Kenny mocked. "What can we do here? We get on the train and we find something better. _That_ is the plan."

"I think Carley just wants to talk it through," Katjaa calmed.

"It's _talked through_. Get on, Kat. I'll be up front. I don't want to hear any nonsense until we get where we're goin'."

Kenny left, heading for the front. Carley got onboard without any objections, Katjaa following after giving Lee a sad look. Chuck helped Duck onboard. Lee went to join Kenny in the engineer's cabin. Kenny glanced at him from the chair when he entered, but otherwise gave no reaction.

Lee pushed the throttle ahead. The engine hissed as the wheels rolled forward. The two men smiled as the train began moving.

* * *

><p>Lee stood in the boxcar, wanting more than anything a nice pillow to use. But he didn't lie down, and he didn't have a pillow, so Lee kept himself still.<p>

"Got to be hard on ya, eh?" Chuck said. "Four adults taking care of four kids;" Chuck gave Ben a sidelong glance, "no disrespect, son."

Ben looked down angrily after Chuck said that.

Everyone but Kenny was lounging in the boxcar, weathering out the long, unsteady ride over fallen branches on the train tracks and a few walkers that had gotten in their way. Kenny say up front, manning the engine, primed to stop the train as he saw fit. Currently, the train had not stopped once.

"There were more of us," Lee said.

"Dead get 'em?" Chuck asked. He looked back at the moving scenery outside of the boxcar.

"No," Lee answered. In truth, Doug had been killed by walkers, though most of their dead were gone for a different reason.

"Ah," Chuck exclaimed knowingly. "Living got 'em."

"LEE!" Katjaa yelled. "Lee. I need you. Right now. I need you to go get Ken."

"What's..." Lee trailed off. He knelt down in front of Duck, propped up against Katjaa's lap. There was blood leaking from his mouth.

"Would you get that off of his face? My hands are full here." Lee picked up the napkin next to Katjaa. "Thank you. Would you just get that off of his face, please?"

Lee carefully wiped the blood off of Duck's face. The boy looked extremely tired, as if staying awake was only possible through extreme force of will. Lee was scared of what would happen if Kenny Jr. closed his eyes permanently.

Tyler dropped to one knee beside Katjaa. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, noticing the blood on the rag Lee held. Lee said nothing, and Katjaa just gripped the bottom of Duck's shirt. Lee nodded to her, granting permission. "Is Duck okay?"

Katjaa lifted Duck's shirt above his ribs to reveal the fatal bite mark.

"What the fuck?" Tyler commented.

_Strange,_ Lee thought. _I said the same thing._

_"_Why didn't anyone tell me?" Tyler complained.

"Not now," Katjaa said. "I didn't want to tell you, because of what happened yesterday... with that grenade... I didn't want you to feel like what you did was pointless. Even if it didn't last, you gave me another day with my Ducky. That matters.

"He's out of time," Katjaa continued. "We need to stop this train."

"Okay," Lee said.

"Please."

Lee made his way over to Clementine. "I'm going to go get Kenny. Hold on tight in case the train stops fast."

He then made his way to Kenny. He opened the boxcar door, made his way past the panel compartments, and let himself inside. Once inside, the wind outside was deafening, consuming all sound. _I need to be direct, _Lee thought. "You need to stop the train." The engineer's cabin's door closed as he said that, stopping the wind from getting in and causing noise. _That's better._

Kenny ignored him and shrugged off Lee's hand after Lee placed it on his shoulder. "Get your hands off of me!"

"I'm-I'm sorry. I just want to talk. We gotta stop this train because Kat needs you, Kenny. Duck doesn't have much time left."

"He'll be fine," Kenny said.

"Katjaa needs you, Kenny," Lee repeated.

"Duck will be fine!"

Lee uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to another. Who knew bad news could be so bad? "I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk like that right now."

"Go back there and tell my wife everything will be fine. What's the goddamn deal? He's just a little sick, but we can't just quit. It's a scratch! He's not like the others. Jesus, all ya'll are just makin' it worse."

_This coming from the guy that instantly condemned Larry? Kill Larry but let your son turn and eat your wife?_ "You're in denial!" Lee yelled before he knew what he was saying.

"And you've given up! On Duck, on _everyone_!"

Lee gritted his teeth. "STOP IT GODDAMIT."

"Fuck you, Lee."

"You're gonna listen," Lee said, tone dangerous.

Kenny stood up in a rage. "Or what?"

They locked eyes. Lee stared intently at Kenny, who returned the icy gaze. _You can take the first move,_ Kenny's posture indicated. Lee's rage coursed through him, entering his fingers as his knuckles turned white.

_What am I doing?_ Lee wondered. _I'm here to stop the train, not pick a fight._

_What's Kenny's problem here?_ He does not want to accept that his son is dying. _Why?_ No man should have to watch their child die. But Kenny seemed on the brink of violence. Pain mixed with depression- even isolated and denied depression- made a dangerous pair. Those two provoke self inflicted violence, but not usually hurting others.

Unless there was another reason for his pain. Lee racked his brain to think back to all of the things they had spoken before. Was he still upset about eating Mark? Losing the motel? No, Kenny had been most outspoken about leaving the motel. What unresolved issue did Kenny have?

It clicked. "Calm down," Lee tried.

"How the fuck do you 'calm down' after a day like today?" Kenny snapped. Kenny's eyebrows raised briefly for emphasis, waiting for an answer.

"By talking to your friend," Lee said. Kenny sat back down, staring down the train tracks ahead. "You think you're the reason Duck was bitten. Like you had this coming, or something." Kenny bent forward, placing his hands over his face. "You didn't kill Hershel's son."

"Yes. I did," Kenny returned. He sat up, but still slumped in his seat. "And now it's catching up to me."

"That's not what went down. You looked out for your kid and a bad thing happened to someone else's."

Kenny shook his head. "There ain't no way this world let's my son live when I helped put someone else's in the ground." Kenny's voice cracked as he finished.

"That's not the way it works," Lee asserted. "You know that." Lee placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. Kenny looked up at him. _It needs to be Kenny's decision, _a voice whispered in his head. "Stop the train, man."

Kenny gave Lee an angry look from the corner of his eye, before his expression morphed into a regretful one. He looked down, finally comprehending what needed to be done. He shook his head, as if to tell himself that Lee had won the argument. His hand grabbed the handle of the emergency brakes.

The train stagnated within moments. The engines hissed as the wheels stopped rolling. Kenny slowly disembarked from the cabin via the ladder, Lee a step behind him. The two men joined the group at the boxcar door. Ben and Chuck stood outside, Clementine, Tyler and Carley sitting inside, Duck on the edge and Katjaa hovering over him.

"Ken. It's... I think it's time," Katjaa stated. She laid one hand on Duck's overturned back.

Kenny folded his arms, trying to keep himself composed and under control. He shifted his weight to his back foot and looked to Ben and Chuck. "The boy's been bit. In case you haven't figured that out." Chuck averted his gaze.

"What do you need?" Lee asked Kenny.

"I... I..."

"Katjaa?" Lee took Kenny's lack of words to weave as a response that he wouldn't answer.

"It's time to..." the veterinarian choked off to avoid outright sobbing. "This is not possible."

"What are we gonna do?" Kenny asked his wife.

Katjaa regained herself and looked down at Duck. "We can't allow him to become one of those things."

"But what if- what if he doesn't?" Kenny asked breathlessly.

"Kenny, I love you very much. I love our son more than life itself. I need you to hear me. What you are saying, that he may not turn, is foolish."

"But-"

"No," Katjaa cut him off. Clementine slid over to the edge of the boxcar, right next to Duck's head.

"Come on, Kat," Kenny desperately attempted. He clearly had no wish to accept his son's life being one ended by a bullet.

"If you think of one, you let me know," Katjaa said. Lee interpreted her words to mean "if you could think of a time when a person who was bitten didn't turn, tell me."

"Isn't there some sort of pill, or something we can just give him..."

"Stop it," Katjaa demanded quietly.

"He can just drift off to sleep, right, hon?" Kenny placed his hands over his face. "I mean, Jesus, this is our son." His hands dropped vehemently from his cheeks.

"I KNOW. But we know it's... here-" Katjaa pointed to her temple- "or nothing."

"Well... fuck... just... who then? You want me to?"

"You don't have to," Katjaa said directly.

"I'll do it."

"No," Katjaa denied. "You don't have to."

"Katjaa, fuck." Kenny looked down abruptly, as if restraining himself from yelling. "I can. I can do this."

"Kenny," Lee spoke up. "You're his dad. You do it."

"And I'm his mother," Katjaa stated coolly.

"Lee's right," Katjaa's husband declared. "And don't give me that 'I brought him into this world' junk."

"Shush. He's still a baby boy. It would be different if he were older. Let me do this."

"Then I'm coming with you," Kenny insisted.

"No, hon. Stay with Lee. Your son loves you and you should remember him as the silly boy we used to have. Not this."

Katjaa turned around, putting an end to the discussion. Kenny stepped forward, as if to stop her, but held himself back as Katjaa picked up Duck in her arms. She carried him over her shoulder and walked towards the forest.

"I can't," Kenny sobbed.

"Lee, be with him," Katjaa requested.

Kenny and Katjaa shared one long, meaningful look before Katjaa stepped away. Lee adjusted himself so that he stood directly behind Kenny. As Katjaa walked away, Lee placed his palm on Kenny's shoulder. Kenny fell to his knees, as if the gentle touch had forced him down. Katjaa disappeared from view.

"What's happening?" Clementine's soft voice called out.

Lee turned to see her standing outside of the boxcar, Chuck watching her warily. Lee crouched down in front of her. "Katjaa's taking care of Duck."

She looked in the direction the mother and son had left in. "I thought he was going to die."

"She's killing him," Lee stated bluntly.

"For good?" Clementine asked.

"Yes. So he doesn't come back." Clementine looked down in despair. "Look, Clem. Things will-"

A gunshot cut him off. _So soon,_ Lee thought. _Too soon._ A flock of birds flew away.

Kenny mumbled something from his kneeling position that Lee couldn't quite make out. He kept his eyes on Clementine. "It had to be done." He hoped Clementine would understand.

"Okay," Clementine said.

"There was no other choice."

"Okay," she repeated, a bit quieter.

"I'm gonna go get her," Kenny said. "She's probably a mess."

"I'll come with you," Tyler volunteered briskly.

Lee stood up, nonverbally announcing his desire to go with Kenny as well. "Ben, get Clementine on the train, and keep your eyes peeled." Ben nodded and Lee followed Kenny into the woods. His arms itched, but he refrained from doing anything besides walking. Out of respect, mostly, but also out of fear. He wasn't quite sure what Kenny would do if he heard anything aside from the sound of his own breathing, even something as minutely small as a scratching noise.

Tyler trekked along behind Lee. He- like the rest of them- walked soberly towards Katjaa's position. The air itself seemed oppressive, as if the environment was doing its very best to deter them and send them back to the train. Kenny pressed on, so Lee did the same. He had no intention of letting his friend stalk off alone into the woods after his son had just died.

The three of them walked through the woods, doing their best to remain on the unshaved path of grass. The road less traveled may have been forsaken, but Lee had no desire to fall straight into a bush or collide with a tree. He could imagine a beehive crashing against the forest floor after one of them clumsily struck into a tree, raging hornets forging a mass exodus from their home to punish the stupid humans.

Kenny kept his eyes ahead, not bothering to check his surroundings for any walkers that may have heard the gunshot or other potential threats, such as a beehive. _He's allergic to bees_... Lee wondered if Kenny shared his son's allergies. Katjaa hadn't mentioned anything regarding her husband's allergies, though that was hardly surprising. In fact-

_What the_ fuck _is wrong with you? A child just died, and you're thinking about bees? _Lee instinctively realized that his mind was trying to distract him from the reality of the situation; a coping mechanism, yet his thoughts seemed completely disrespectful in wake of Duck's death. He could tell he would miss Kenny's son before too long, yet Clementine and Kenny more so. Was he just trying to make excuses for wanting to distract himself? Or did he genuinely need something else to think about because he had cared too much about Duck? What about Tyler? Tyler had thrown caution to the wind, put his own life on the line and nearly sacrificed himself for Duck just the previous day's afternoon. How he was dealing with Duck's death was unknown to Lee, but he suspected that Tyler would be deeply hurt by it. He had been hurt by Derek's death, and by what Tyler had made it sound like, he hadn't known Derek for very long. Duck would probably hurt more than-

_STOP IT!_ Lee screamed at himself. In an effort to disguise any further internal struggles, Lee studied the sky above him. Grayness blotted the blue, leaving little patches of crisp, pure color available. The rest of the sky patterned itself unevenly, some light, some dark. A single spot revealed a brighter gray than others; directly above him, meaning it was about noon. A light buzzing faintly reached his ears as he gazed up, somberly describing to himself the shapes he could discern. He stared at the sky and...

And...

"Is that a... _plane?_" Lee blurted out.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, looking up at the sky through the clearing in the trees. Kenny squinted, attempting to see what Lee had. Tyler spotted it without much difficulty, even directing Kenny's attention with his finger.

Yep, there was no mistaking it: that giant figure in the sky was an airplane. A large plane, at that. One of the largest Lee had ever seen. The faint buzzing he had heard before seemed to be coming from that aircraft. It's shadow, as high as it was, was visible over the tops of trees that could be seen from their location. It was westbound and moving quick.

"Well, shit," Kenny remarked. His voice was monotonous, lower than it normally was. He did not face Lee nor Tyler as he spoke. "Looks like the government's still looking out for us." He shrugged and continued walking.

"Who says that's a government plane?" Lee whispered to Tyler.

"The size, I think," Tyler replied. "I mean, who else has access to a plane that big besides the Air Force?"

Tyler continued on. After a quick moment of deliberating how to talk to the group about it, he continued on. He walked quickly, passing Tyler and stepping into a pace beside Kenny. He was about to ask Kenny's thoughts about the plane, when Kenny suddenly gasped and hustled forward. Lee saw what he was rushing to, and his eyes widened. Tyler bumped into Lee's back before facing Kenny's direction.

Kenny crouched directly above Katjaa- blood pouring out the side of her head and a pistol next to her open palm- as she lay against the grass. Her eyes were open in a permanent death stare, looking at her son, who sat against a tree, extremely pale. His pallor rivaled that of some of the walkers that he had encountered in his travels. Duck inhaled sharply, clinging to life as his last minutes were upon him. Kenny panicked, his hands roving over her body, searching for motion.

"KAT! KAT! KATJAA!" Kenny pleaded. Lee averted his eyes from Katjaa's corpse, opting to look at Duck, who breathed in and out quickly, like a sick man who experienced pain every time he brushed his throat. Duck regulated his breathing to sharp inhales and exhales. He barely seemed conscious, and Lee doubted whether or not Duck could see his parents in front of him: one dead, the other crying.

"Why, Kat?" Kenny asked. Tears streamed from his eyes and splashed Katjaa's clothes. "Honey, oh fuckin' God..." He placed his hand on her forearm and buried his head against her chest, his cap making such an action difficult. He cried, whimpering over and over again. "You said you could do it, Kat. Goddammit, you said you could do it."

Tyler dropped to his knees beside Kenny, as if checking for signs of life. Lee knew his efforts would be futile. A bullet to the head leaves very few survivors.

"I'm sorry, Kenny," Tyler stammered.

"Oh my God..." Lee said to himself. He shoved down his horror at the sight and stepped forward behind Kenny,

"I... I..." Kenny broke off, unable to restrain to speak with the crushing sadness that overwhelmed any communication. With one hand, he reached out and closed Katjaa's eyes with his forefingers. Her head rattled gently from the pressure against her eyelids. Kenny pulled back and looked over at Duck. He grabbed the gun next to Katjaa's hand and stood up. Tyler followed suit.

The three of them huddled around the tree that the now deceased Katjaa had lain Duck against before killing herself. Duck wheezed once before returning to his sharp breaths. "What do we do?" Kenny asked. Despite his tears, those words were clear and intelligible.

"You're his dad," Lee answered. "You've gotta do this. Just out an end to it, man."

Kenny looked down, then back at his son. Arm wavering, he aimed Katjaa's pistol at Duck's head. Tyler made no motion to stop him, but Lee caught a glimpse of a tear falling from Tyler's face.

Duck weakly raised his head towards Kenny, and then- seeing the gun- dropped his head. His breathing became shallower and shallower before it stopped. His eyes remained open.

"It'll be okay..." Lee assured. He raised his hand to place it on Kenny's shoulder. "It'll be-"

Gunshot. A bullet tore through the skin and skull of Duck's head the second Lee's hand touched Kenny, as if the man had fired by prompt. Lee pulled his hand back instantly, and Kenny's shaking arm fell back to his side. Tyler phased back in a startled posture.

Everyone stared at Duck, Kenny placing a single hand over his own mouth to remain quiet. His shoulder tensed and constricted, pulling his arms in for warmth. Lee and Kenny shared a look, a tear trail burned into Kenny's face. Without another word, Kenny turned and left. Lee and Tyler lingered for a moment before Tyler fell into Lee. Lee held Tyler for a moment before urging him back to the train. He took one last look at Duck before following.

He stepped past Katjaa and left the corpses as they were.

* * *

><p>Kenny had gone ahead, not bothering to wait for Lee and Tyler. By the time Lee had gotten back, Tyler was already climbing aboard without help. He managed it, even with his injury.<p>

On the way back, Lee and Tyler had come up with the plan to tell the group: Tyler would tell Clementine and Ben, Lee would tell Carley. He supposed it wasn't going to be easy to hear that the group had lost two people in just a few seconds, but he really didn't have a choice. You can't just ignore that the group's only doctor had killed herself.

James Allen be damned, but nobody had ever explained how to deliver bad news.

He found Carley outside of the boxcar, and he noticed both Ben and Clementine outside. Apparently, they were all wondering why there had been _two_ shots. Her eyes followed Tyler as he boarded the train. As Lee exited the forest, she faced him.

Her eyes lit up at first, but then squinted quizzically after seeing nobody behind him. "Where's Katjaa?" she asked as soon as he was in earshot. Lee stopped directly in front of her, then glanced back at the forest. "You guys just left her there?"

"Yeah," Lee answered quietly.

"She shouldn't be out there alone," Carley said.

"She's with Duck, now."

"Yeah, I know. Shouldn't somebody be with her?"

Lee faced her. "Someone should've."

Carley paused for a moment, then her eyes widened slightly. "Why were there two shots?"

"Katjaa... couldn't take it." Lee sighed. "Duck... she didn't want to go on without him."

"Lee," Carley whispered. "Is Katjaa coming back?"

"Katjaa... made sure that she wouldn't." Lee paused, looking at her directly in the eye. "And Kenny made sure Duck wouldn't either."

Carley gasped, then turned to walk over to the ladder nearest the boxcar. Ben suddenly pushed open the door from the boxcar to the railway. He climbed up the stairs- breathing hard in shock- and leaned over the rail, placing his face in his hands.

Lee caught up to Carley as she herself climbed the ladder. She reached the top just as he started climbing. She walked over to the engine compartments before crumpling and sitting in against the train wall. Lee put his feet beneath him and walked over to her. He crouched down next to her, placing one hand on the rail for balance. "Are you okay?"

Carley let out a half-sob, half-laugh at that. Her face turned red. "Okay?" Carley mocked. "Is anyone 'okay' with this? How can anyone be 'okay' with this?"

"If I knew, I'd tell you."

"How do you do it?"

"I just... do," Lee said, unsure exactly of how to phrase it.

She wiped her nose. "Please."

Lee sat down against the engine compartment next to Carley. "I... I think about what else I have and what I can do. I focus on those I care about and keep my eyes ahead." Lee rested his head back against the cold frame of the metal. "I try to let go. I'm not sure if I can describe it, but if you want to get rid of the pain, you need to find help. Not just anyone can help, but when you look towards those you need in your life, they can heal you."

"I need healing," Carley whispered.

"I'm here for you, Carley. I always will be."

Carley dropped her head down and let her knees fall with it. Uncertain of how else to comfort her, Lee hesitantly wrapped and arm around her shoulders. Carley stayed tense for a moment, as if afraid he would hurt her, but then relaxed in his arms. She leaned into him, burying her right cheek into his chest.

For once, Lee felt comfortable on the train. He held Carley until she composed herself, then kept holding her. He found that being with her- somehow- alleviated the grief and horror he had felt at seeing Kenny's family dead. Being with her made him forget about all of his problems, his worries. Carley helped him see optimistically, give him a lightness he hadn't felt since reuniting with Tyler.

Carley sat up; still pressed against him, but no longer leaning on him for support. She stared at him longingly. Unsure of how else to react, he stared back, fixing himself with a deep breath and feeling a slight increase in his heart rate. His arms thumped, pounding blood against vein. Lee's wrists pulsed over and over and over and over. The wind blew one of Carley's locks of hair onto her nose. She took no notice.

With a brush of his fingers, he sweeped the lock back behind her ear. In a retracting motion, Lee rubbed her cheek along the jaw line with his palm. One of her hands danced up his shoulder, making a beeline for his head. It reached his chin, then circled his face to his upper forehead, then beyond his hairline to the nape of his neck.

Carley's breathing shallower then stopped. Lee had been holding his breath already. Their faces moved closer. Lee closed his eyes, rearing his lips-

The train hissed and jolted forward, shaking them both as they sat there. Lee nearly collided his head with Carley's as it started, but adjusted quickly and his body did the rest. _A little warning next time, Kenny,_ Lee thought.

The moment had been ruined. Lee couldn't possibly feel more awkward if he tried. Embarrassed, Lee sat up straight, shaking off Carley's hand and pulling his own back. "I'm sorry," he stammered. He looked back towards the boxcar. "I shouldn't have-"

Lee cut off as Carley grabbed his chin forcefully and pulled his face back down to meet hers, embracing him in a lip lock. Lee's eyes opened wide in confusion for a second before drooping down and closing. Carley let go of his chin and tenderly gripped his neck by the side. Lee's arms returned to where they had been before as he melted into the kiss. He relaxed, tense, relaxed and tensed his lips over and over in synchronization with Carley, each finding last serenity in the long-awaited moment. Their lips separated shortly before returning to each other.

Lee felt liberated and captured by that kiss; in that he was free from the darkness he felt but now helpless to Carley. He felt electrified and ensnared. Recharged and drained. The conflict of elation and deflation inside him raged on as the peace he had discovered came full circle.

She pulled back, putting the moment of perfection and bliss to a close. Carley looked into his eyes and smiled. It wasn't a predatory or triumphant smile, just a simple smile of gratitude. He hadn't seen such a thing too often. Carley laid her head back against his chest, using him as a pillow. Lee stretched his neck over and placed his chi over her head. Lee exhaled.

Chuck walked by them, passing Lee on the walkway and entering the engineer's cabin. Lee nodded at him, but Chuck did not return anything. Lee lowered his head next to Carley's. "You feeling better?" Lee whispered into her ear.

"Yeah..." Carley breathed into his chest.

"Try to get some sleep," Lee requested, gently kissing the skin in front of her earlobe. "God knows you need some." Carley nodded into his chest, then curled her feet up. "Not out here," Lee said.

Without another word, Carley extricated herself from Lee's body, stepped over his legs and walked over to the boxcar. As she walked, her posture slumped, no longer contained. Either she was extremely tired or she had wanted that kiss more than anything.

Lee sat there for a few minutes before standing up and brushing his pants off. He walked over to the boxcar door. Ben seemed reasonably calm directly outside of it, so Lee left him alone. He opened the door and stepped inside.

Lee let the door swing closed on its own so it wouldn't be too loud. Despite the harsh winds outside, he had a feeling that if he had slammed the door, Kenny could feel it from the front. He didn't want Kenny to feel it, plain and simple. Plus, Carley could have been sleeping.

Lee turned and faced the inside of the boxcar. A green backpack that Chuck had stashed sat next to Clementine, while she sat with her legs hanging off the train at the large sliding door, her walkie-talkie discarded behind her. Carley sat against the closed sliding door, head resting back against it. Tyler was sitting atop of one of the boxes in the canopy, using a small tarp as a blanket. A small, unopened fifth of whiskey was set next to Tyler's chair, though it didn't look like Tyler had set it there. He looked up as Lee walked in, but said nothing. Carley and Clementine were lounging around, though Carley's eyes were closed.

Lee took a seat next to Clementine, hanging his own legs out the door. "You want to talk?" he asked quietly. Just in case Carley was sleeping, he spoke only loud enough for Clementine to hear him; he didn't want to wake her up.

"Uh-uh," Clementine said.

"You understand what happened?"

"Yes," Clementine answered in a shrill voice.

"Okay. What are you thinking about?"

"What Chuck said."

Lee narrowed his eyes. "What'd Chuck say?"

"That what happened to Duck would happen to me." Clementine did not meet his eyes.

"What?" Lee exclaimed in a whisper. "The fuck he did."

"Swear," Clementine pointed out.

"Sorry. I'm gonna go talk some sense into him." Lee stood up.

"Don't be mad," Clementine requested. Too late.

Lee pulled open the door to the railway and stormed out, passing Ben on his way to Chuck. Ben leaned over the rail with his head in his hands, barely giving Lee enough of a look to show recognition. Lee entered the engine car, tiptoeing his way past Kenny, who sat in the driver's seat. He opened the door leading out to the front of the train, just outside of the car.

He stepped out and found Chuck looking ahead. Lee folded his arms, impatient. "Hey," Lee challenged.

"How ya doing?" Chuck said. He obviously had no idea why Lee was here.

"Don't talk to my girl," Lee demanded. "Just stay away from her."

"Excuse me, son?" Chuck asked, making sure that he'd heard correctly.

"I heard you told her she was going to die; that she was gonna end up like Duck. Why'd you go and do that?"

"'Cause she is," Chuck said bluntly. "I don't know much about you folks, but I can tell you, sure as the sun gon' come up tomorrow, that if tall kelp going on like this and that girl ain't gonna make it."

"What do you know?" Lee retorted.

"I know that you don't have a goddamn plan. We get to Savannah and then what?"

Lee unfolded his arms and leaned forward, trying to make himself seem bigger than he really was. "We find a boat."

"You think that's a new idea? You got even the foggiest idea 'bout where you're gonna find one of those?" Chuck asked. "Look, sit down with the girl and hash it out. Find a map for Christ's sake- I'd give you one if I had it. And if something were to happen to you..."

"It won't," Lee stated firmly.

"If it _were, _you gotta prepare the girl. Teach her to use a gun and for criminy, cut that hair."

"Like a gun?" Lee asked, calming down. He understood Chuck's intentions, but that didn't mean he agreed with them. "Are you kidding me?"

"What? She's too young to handle one? There ain't too young, not anymore. You gotta consider her a living person, that's it! You're either living or you're not. You ain't little, you ain't a girl, you ain't a boy, you ain't strong or smart. You're alive. Look at her hair. Find some scissors in my pack and take care of that hair before a walker does it for you. And then show her how to use a gun because like it or not, that's what saves your life from here on out." Chuck paused for a moment to let that sink in. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job, but too many people have died already."

"They have," Lee agreed.

"And seein' another little girl die might just do me in."

"I hear you," Lee said, ready to do what Chuck had suggested. "A plan, a haircut and a gun. It's good advice."

"It's something."

Lee nodded. "You have any family?"

"Out there, somewhere. Been sorta on my own for the past fourteen years now."

_That's not what your jacket says. "_Sorry to hear that."

"No one to blame," Chuck rationalized.

"You're homeless, then."

Chuck fidgeted and sighed. "Suppose. I've had homes here and there and they just don't work out. I like a drink, you know?"

Lee drank sometimes, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy bourbon. "Yeah."

"Got any?"

"No," Lee replied.

"Darn."

"Be safe up here," Lee said.

"You betcha."

Lee went back into the engine car. Kenny still sat down in the chair. "Hey, man," Lee greeted.

"You and me," Kenny began. "We... um. Fuck it. Let's just get to the ocean."

Lee spotted a bin on the wall next to Lenny, full of maps and documents. "Are there any maps in here?" Lee prodded.

"I don't know."

"I just, uh, want to look over one with Clem so she has a lay of the land once we get to Savannah."

Kenny leaned forward and held his face in his hands. "I'll, uh, talk to you later Kenny." Lee stepped up behind the older man. "Mind if I get by you for a second, Kenny?"

"Can you just leave me alone?"

Lee stepped back. Knowing he'd need to find something to get Kenny out of the car without violence, he went back to Clementine. He opens the boxcar door and let himself in. Carley was lying down in a different position, but other than that, nothing looked different. He walked over to the bottle of whiskey and picked it up, feeling its weight. _Definitely unopened_. Pocketing the item, he unzipped Chuck's back and rooted through it, looking for some scissors. His fingers found something metallic, and he pulled out a shining scissor pair. _They look clean enough_.

He looked down at Clementine. "Hey, Clem."

"Did you talk to him?"

"I did, he had some, uh..." Lee trailed off. He glanced at Tyler and beckoned for him to join them. "He explained himself and made some good points. Look, we're not going to let anything bad happen to you. But there are some precautions we have to take."

"Okay, yeah," Clementine said nervously, "that makes sense."

"Don't worry, sweet heart."

"Okay. What should we do?"

"Well, we're going to figure out a plan for when we get to Savannah, teach you how to protect yourself and, uh, tidy you up a little so you can't get grabbed so easily."

"I'd like that." Tyler placed his good shoulder against the boxcar wall and looked down upon the two.

"Good," Lee said. Lee stood up and kept his eyes on her. "You need to know how to protect yourself."

Clementine climbed to her feet and faced him. "Like hiding or running away, got it."

Lee pulled out the pistol tucked into his waistband. "I mean with one of these. First, don't be afraid of it. It's just a thing. Take it."

"Just a thing," Tyler echoed. "As long as it's yours, it won't hurt you."

"But know where your finger is all the time." Lee clicked off the safety. "And don't put it on the trigger unless you want to hurt somebody."

She accepted the gun from him. "Okay," she said, nodding. "Okay."

Tyler reached out for the gun. "Whenever you first load the gun, pull back on the lever and it will load the first bullet. Like this."

"See. It's not scary."

"It's heavy," Clementine remarked.

"You'll get stronger," a small voice mumbled. Carley lay with her hand on the crook of her arm. "It isn't as hard as you think to get used to."

"To aim, you look right down the top, through that notch," Lee pointed at it. Clementine put her back to him to show him how she was aiming. Line up the sight at the end with your target." He placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Is there anything else I should know?" Clementine asked.

"When you're ready to shoot, make sure you're not breathing too hard and then hold your breath right when you pull the trigger."

"Like when I'm swimming?" she asked.

"No, just for a quick second. I found that if I did that I was a lot more accurate. It's tough, but it'll help."

"I can do that," she stated. "Okay."

Tyler placed an empty glass bottle on top of the box he had been sitting on. "I know these are just bottles," Tyler said, "but you have to aim for the head."

"I know. Only the head."

"Unless it's not a walker and it's someone trying to hurt you," Lee blurted out.

"... And then?"

"Head or body. Anywhere."

"I don't want to think about that," Clementine announced, shutting her eyes.

"You're right. It might be a lot for your first day. You ready?"

"Hold on," Carley said. She stood up slowly- obviously exhausted- and stood next to Clementine. "Squeeze the trigger, steadily, okay? Don't give it a quick yank or pull."

"Steady. I can do that."

"Every time. It'll be tough, but just remember to do that and you'll hit what you're aiming at."

"Okay. I'm ready."

She turned and looked at the bottle as Carley backed away. Clementine aimed her pistol at the glass bottle resting upon the box. "Good. Don't lock your elbows." He pulled on her arms to let her elbows loosen. He placed his hands over her ears. "Okay, let's take your first shot. Squeeze the trigger smoothly and I'll cover your ears. Nice and easy."

"Nice and easy," Clementine repeated.

Lee applied pressure to her ears, signaling for her to fire.

Gunshot. A bullet hit the boxcar wall behind and above the box, not even touching the bottle. Clementine squealed at this and Lee let go of her ears.

"You okay?" Tyler asked.

"My hands hurt. I don't like this." The barrel of the gun was aimed towards the floor.

"Let's stick with it, okay?" Lee said.

"Do I have to?"

She turned and faced the bottle again. She aimed down her sights and prepared to fire. Lee pulled down her arms again as she had locked her elbows. "Yeah. You do."

He covered her ears. "Keep it steady. Aim lower." He pressed her ears.

Clementine fired the gun and the glass shattered. She shrugged off his hands, lowered the gun, and turned to Tyler with a smile. "I got it!"

"Excellent," Lee commented. "Good shot."

"Good job, Clem," Tyler appraised. Apparently, she valued compliments from Tyler more than she did Lee, as she blushed at this.

Carley set up a second glass bottle, leaving it where the other one was after clearing it of glass shards. After she stepped out of the way, Clementine pointed her pistol again, eager to hit something else. She locked her elbows without realizing it, so Lee adjusted her form before covering her ears. She fired once more, the bullet impacting just below the bottle.

"Steady, now, almost got it," Lee encouraged. "A little higher, honey."

A bullet separated the bottle into a hundred more shards of glass. Carley brushed them out the boxcar door and out on to the train tracks with her arm. Tyler set up a third bottle.

"There you go. Nice!" Lee told her.

Carley and Tyler moved out of the way as Clementine lined up the shot. She didn't lock her elbows this time, so Lee didn't need to correct her. He applied some pressure to her ears, though less than before because he wanted her to get used to hearing her own gunshot.

Her next bullet broke the glass on her first try. She looked back at Lee. "I did it!" she shouted with joy.

"Yeah, you did. Good job."

She looked at Carley. "I squeezed the trigger, just like you said."

Carley grinned. "I know; you did good."

"They're not walkers, though," Clementine said, somewhat sadly.

Tyler put a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, but you know how these things work now. We'll graduate you to walkers one day."

"Okay," Clementine said, some color returning to her cheeks. "I feel good." Lee took note of how Tyler's hand lingered on her shoulder for several seconds.

"Not so scary, eh?" Lee asked.

"Nuh-uh."

"She'll be shooting like a pro someday," Carley said.

Clementine held out the gun for Lee, and he took in and put it back in his waistband. "You, uh, want to go back to sleep, Carley?"

"No. I'm good."

"Alright then." He pulled out Chuck's scissors. "You ever cut someone's hair before?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Do you think you can cut Clementine's?" Lee asked anxiously. He remembered Andy St. John pulling on Clementine's hair at dinner. Nothing like that could ever happen again.

"With those scissors? Probably in a couple of minutes."

"Can you do it? Chuck said Clementine's hair isn't safe and I need to go get something from Kenny."

"You're listening to Chuck now?" Carley asked skeptically. She probably thought he was just trying to escape doing any work.

"If he's reasonable."

"Okay. How short do you want it?"

"Short enough that it can't get grabbed."

Carley looked at him understandingly. "Got it."

Lee walked past Clementine to the door, listening as Carley explained to her what she was going to do. He stopped at the door as a patch of red on the floor caught his eye. Duck's blood. _Hope we're not in this train much longer._

Lee stepped out of the boxcar and up to the engine car, passing a stationary Ben. He entered the engine car and exited out the front.

"Well, the girl can shoot," he told Chuck.

"It doesn't have to be pretty," Chuck joked.

"Probably will be before too long."

"You get that hair sorted?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah. I don't think she's gonna love it."

"She will."

Lee pulled out the whiskey he had found in Chuck's stash. "I found this, if you want it."

Chuck smiled. "Damn, didn't realize I had it left. Thank ya." He accepted the bottle from Lee and uncorked it. "Want a nip?"

"Sure," Lee responded.

Chuck handed the uncorked bottle back to Lee. Lee placed the bottle to his lips and tilted his head back, letting the fluid wash down his throat. It tasted bitter and salty, most likely due to age, but the bubbling in his stomach made him feel better.

He smacked his lips and gave the bottle back to Chuck. "Oof."

"Not known for its finish," Chuck said.

Lee licked his teeth clean. "No kidding."

Chuck took a long drink himself. "Anybody in there want to share a drink, you let 'em know."

Lee's eyes flicked over to Kenny in the cabin. "Will do."

Lee left Chuck and entered the cabin. "Chuck wanted to know if you needed a drink," Lee informed Kenny.

He looked at Lee out of the corner of his eyes. "He's got some?"

"Yeah."

Kenny shook his head, as if cursing himself. He turned in his chair and stood up. "Yeah," Kenny answered in a low voice. "That'd help." He walked past Lee to join Chuck outside.

With Kenny gone, Lee was able to grab the map in the bin next to the driver's seat. He pocketed the folded parcel and left the engine car. Kenny walked back in and sat down the moment he opened the door.

Lee went over to the boxcar door, and looked in through the window. Carley was still cutting Clementine's hair. Clementine sulked under the amateur barber's cuts. Lee reached for the door handle.

"It was me," Ben whispered.

"Huh?" Lee asked, not sure what Ben was talking about.

Ben pulled his face out of his hands long enough to look Lee in the eye. "I was the one giving the bandits supplies."

Lee's eyes widened and his arm fell back to his side, limp. "_WHAT?_" Ben didn't respond, so Lee went back up to meet him face to face.

As Lee approached from Ben's side, the high schooler straightened. "It's all my fault."

"What for?" Lee demanded, voice rising. "Why the hell would you do this?"

"They said they had my friend, that he was with them," he offered weakly. It was clear that he had recognized his own failures. "By the time I realized they, didn't it was too late... they said they'd kill me. Kill all of us. I'm sorry, Lee." Ben leaned back over the rail with his head in his hands. Lee tapped him on the shoulder. "You still want to talk to me?"

"I don't have a lot of choice, unless you're going somewhere."

"I... I guess I'm not."

"What are you doing out here?" Lee asked.

"I, uh, couldn't be back there anymore. I needed some air."

"Anything else?" Lee questioned.

"I was thinking about talking to Kenny," Ben admitted. Lee fixed him with a glare. "I guess not."

"I'm dead serious about you keeping your mistakes to yourself."

"I can tell," Ben said.

"You get why, right?" Lee leaned in closer. Unlike Chuck, Ben was easy to intimidate.

"I guess."

"You better."

Lee let Ben process those words as he went into the boxcar. Carley had just finished and was tying Clementine's hair back with something.

"What's that?" Lee asked Carley.

"Hair clips," she answered, not taking her eyes off of her work.

"Yeah. Lilly gave them to me for sleeping."

Lee's nostrils flared at the mention of Lilly's name, but he kept himself from doing anything rash or violent.

"All done," Carley announced.

"How do I look?" the little girl asked Lee.

"You look cute, Clem."

She felt around her hair where Carley had trimmed. It was nearly shortened with no loose articles. It would be hard for any opponent, dead or undead to take advantage of her hair now. Yet, despite all of that, she looked unhappy with the results. "My mom's gonna hate it."

"You look fine, Clementine. There's nothing wrong with your hair," Carley assured.

"You're beautiful, sweet pea," Lee said.

"Why does your breath smell like alcohol?" Carley inquired. She sniffed, then winced at the smell. "You snuck off to have a drink while I did the work?"

Despite just hearing Ben's confession, Lee grinned in an infuriating manner.

Clementine put her hat on and sat down at the boxcar door. Lee sat down next to her. "I'm sorry about your hair, Clem. I know you don't like it very much."

"It's okay," she said.

"I want to talk about Savannah," Lee declared.

"Me, too."

"And what we're going to do when we get there." Lee unfolded the map from his pocket and laid it flat against the floor between them. "We don't know what to expect- the city could be bad or totally under control. The thing is: you and I, we're a team, and a team needs a plan. Aside from everyone else when this train stops, you and I should know exactly what we're doing."

"A plan," Clementine summarized. "I like it."

"Ha, good," Lee said playfully. Then his demeanor turned serious. "We need to help find a boat. It's our best bet at safety."

"Okay, but we'll be _in_ Savannah, and my parents were in Savannah."

"I know," Lee said, trying to postpone her question. "Look-"

"No!" Clementine interrupted. "I don't care about safety. I care about finding them."

"Where would we even look?" Lee asked.

"I can remember where they were staying. Maybe they didn't go far," she said hopefully.

"Clementine..." Lee soothed.

"Please, Lee," Clementine begged.

Lee looked at Tyler. He shrugged. "Hey, I'd do it for Mom."

_I can't say no to her, _Lee realized. _That's a serious problem for someone to have as an adult, especially as a father_. "All right. Let's figure out on the map, but a boat is the ultimate plan."

"Yes," Clementine compromised. "They can come with us, right?"

"Yes." Lee nodded. "It looks like we'll come right through town if there's nothing on the tracks to hold us up." Lee studied the map thoughtfully. "We're gonna want to look for a boat here, I imagine," Lee guessed, pointing to the wharf. "And from there, we've got all of Savannah to the southwest of us. Now we've got a good chunk of Savannah here." He pointed to the area surrounding an elementary school. What do you think?"

Tyler leaned forward. "If her parents were on vacation, they'd be in a hotel. The hotel area is here," Tyler said, pointing to the area near the docks.

"They always stay in the same place when they go there," Clementine said. "It's uh...hmm."

"Hey. Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

"Have you ever been there?" Tyler asked.

"Once."

"Well, think about it - there are a lot of hotels on here, but read this map and maybe it will jog your memory," Tyler said.

"They've got really tasty desserts," Clementine said. "It's called the M...M something...Mar..."

"Is this it?" Lee asked. "The Marsh House?"

"Yes. That's it."

"So we'll head there."

"Yes!"

"You think we have a good plan?" Lee asked happily.

"I think it's very good," Clementine answered. "Can I... tell my parents? You know."

"Sure, go ahead. How do you feel?"

"Good. Better. I'm glad we have a plan."

"And you're a good little shot."

"Thanks."

"I guess we should see how far-"

"OH SHIT! HOLD ON EVERYBODY!" Kenny called out. The train lurched as everyone on it kept going forward. Lee held onto the wall and Clementine's shoulder to keep her from falling off the train.

A land bridge up ahead had a trailer truck with eighteen wheels on it. It had been hauling a fuel tanker, yet most of the tanker, including the coupler, was hanging off of the bridge, barring the train's path.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUCK!" Kenny screamed as soon as everyone disembarked to confront their newest problem.

"Maybe we could walk?" Ben suggested after a moment of silence.

"That's fucking stupid, Ben," Kenny admonished.

"I'm just sayin..."

"Hmm," Chuck said. "I dunno; I ain't got much experience with yall's fortitude but we could probably deal with that. We got a goddamn train."

"That thing's not full of milk, Charles," Kenny mocked. "That's gas or diesel; something that's gonna explode."

"You gotta get a hold of yourself. This is a crew here."

Kenny stepped in close. "This ain't shit."

"This-"

"Yo!" someone shouted from above. Everybody looked up to the top of the bridge, where two figures stood. One was a dark skinned female wearing a purple and white jacket, scowling down at them. The other was a short man- ridiculously shorter than his companion- looking to be even shorter than Carley. Apparently, he was the speaker. "You keep screaming like that and you're gonna get your face chewed off."

The lady ushered him a bit to the side so that most of their bodies would be concealed by the tanker. "Are you guys gonna be trouble? Because we could've just kept walking."

Lee edged closer to Kenny, who was reaching for his gun behind his back. "Define 'trouble.'" He gestured to Kenny to stop. He did.

"Anything that gets you killed or worse and it tends to come hand in hand with groups of guys in distress," the lady explained.

"I'm not a guy," Carley called out.

"Let's give these guys a break," the short man said.

"I'm still not a guy," Carley informed the man on top of the bridge.

"We'll see," his companion said.

"You guys got a problem with your train?"

"Yeah," Kenny said, "you're standing right in front of it."

"Dude," he said lightheartedly, "it's a wreck. It's not so bad from up here. Send your buddy up to have a look."

Lee walked toward them, but Kenny stopped him. "Anything goes sideways up there, we won't let them escape."

Lee noticed a pair of conjoined ladders the would allow him instant access to the top of the bridge and to the wreck. He walked over to it, gently brushing up against Kenny's arm.

He placed on hand and foot on the ladder's rungs. "If I come up there you better not be murderers or thieves."

"I guess you'll have to find out," the woman said, poking her hoped out over the side for him to see.

"A group of guys is what we need," the man said to his friend while Lee was climbing.

"They're what you think we need," she argued. "We're fine."

"For now. What about when-"

"Stop it," she ordered her short companion as Lee reached the top.

Both of them turned to face Lee. "Hey dude," the short man greeted jovially. "I'm Omid."

"Lee," the history professor said.

"Christa," the woman introduced. "What's the deal with the train?"

"We're driving it."

"OH, MAN," Omid said. Christa rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to bullshit you," Lee stated in a direct tone. "Our group is a little fucked right now. We had a bite victim and then his mom took her life and before that, just..."

"It's okay," Christa said understandingly.

"Oh, shit!" Omid exclaimed. "Goddamn, you guys have a kid!" Startled by his revelation, Lee looked beneath him spell at the ladder. He noticed Clementine just reaching the top as he turned, Tyler a few rungs below her. Tyler was rushing, as if trying to stop her.

"What are you doing up here?" Lee asked.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a kid?" Omid rhetorically asked. "Shit! What's your name?"

"Clementine," she introduced. This was only the second time Lee had seen her greet someone without hiding behind him. He suspected that it had something to do with the amount of attention Omid was giving her.

"Oh, so he gets to swear?" Lee asked playfully. Tyler reached the top of the ladder, heaving himself up with one arm.

"Two kids!?" Omid shouted. "What's your name?"

"Tyler."

"Well, this is great," Omid declared. "See?" he said to his friend. "Things are looking up."

"You and Tyler look alike, but you're not her dad," Christa accused suspiciously. "He down there?"

"It's that obvious?" Lee asked, looking at Clementine.

"To me."

"And no, he's not down there."

Christa scoffed. "What's your story?"

Clementine scooted around him to give Tyler more room. "I came across Clementine alone the first day all of this started. We've been together ever since."

"And everybody down there, they're cool?"

Lee looked down at the group. "We just met Chuck," Lee informed, "but he seems like an all right guy."

"You always have to worry about new people," Christa said, narrowing her eyes.

"Used to love meeting new people," Omid interjected.

"That must've been a long time ago," Tyler said.

"We're sorry for anything that's happened to you guys," Omid apologized. "That train is awesome, though."

"That tank is your real problem. We'll help you with it, but if we see anything we don't like, we're moving on down the road. Alone," Christa warned.

"We'd appreciate the help," Lee said.

"You can't just blast through it, I guess," Omid said.

Tyler reached into his pocket. "We might."

"No grenades, that might drop the bridge," Lee said.

"Grenades!?" Omid shouted, but not in concern.

"If you could get it down, the rest would probably be pretty easy," Christa judged.

"We'll start there."

"We'll come down and settle in, and see if we can help."

Tyler climbed down the ladder first without much difficulty, then Lee, then Clementine, then Omid and Christa. The rest of Lee's group turned at their appearance. "Guys, this is Omid and Christa," Lee announced.

Everyone else just stared.

"Not big on welcomes," Omid remarked, scratching the back of his head.

"Like I said, it's been a bit of a day."

"We just wanted to say hi and say your train is pretty cool," Omid said to Kenny.

"The plan is to cut that tanker down and be on our way," Lee told everyone.

"Seems like plan enough to me," Kenny stated.

"You want to start in on that tanker?" Omid asked Lee.

"I'll get to know the girl for a minute, if you don't mind," Christa said.

Lee nodded.

"And why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens," Kenny said to Omid.

"Really, Ken?" Lee asked.

"It's probably for the best." Kenny started climbing the ladder to the engineer's cabin. "Someone might want to have a look inside of that station back there, too."

_Station?_ Lee turned to face the other side of the bridge, noticing a small building on the side of the train tracks.

"Sounds great," Omid said eagerly. "Let's do this thing."

Everyone broke off into small sections of the area: Chuck and Tyler sitting near the forest while Chuck strummed his guitar. _I'm glad someone's managed to keep their spirit,_ Lee thought. Ben stood on top of the train, keeping a lookout for walkers. Clementine sat with Christa in front of a train track opposite to the one they had been using. Clementine held the walkie talkie in her hand. _I guess it's good Clem's got another woman to talk to_. Omid and Kenny went into the cabin. Carley just stood there with her back to the train car.

Lee spotted something behind the rock Chuck sat upon. He went over to it and pulled it out of the ground. He brought it over to Carley.

She looked at him with tired eyes. Carley noticed what was in his hand and smiled. "A sunflower?"

"You're not allergic, are you?" Lee inquired.

"Sunflowers are my favorite. It reminds me of happier times."

"What, you're not happy with me?" Lee asked with feigned offense. He held out the flower.

She reached out and accepted it. She sniffed at the petals. "Smells sweet."

"Like you."

She chuckle as she wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to drop the flower. She pulled him down into a kiss, intoxicatingly sweet to his senses. All of them were electrified at once as he smelled Carley's hair; tasted her warm, red lips; felt her strong waist; heard her muffled laughter; and saw her beautiful face. The embrace was brief, but meaningful.

"Thanks for cutting Clem's hair."

"As long as you don't just ask me for help so you can sneak off and drink beer, I'll help you."

"Deal," Lee said. He walked over to Ben. "Got a clear view up there?"

"Yeah, we're good for a ways," Ben answered. "Thank god... We need someone, anyone, to come along and...and...exterminate them or something."

"No shit," Lee agreed. "Walkers, man. You know, sometimes you might see me take care of one, because I have to, but don't start thinking they don't horrify me."

"I'm glad somebody else feels that way. I'm telling you, Lee. If they ever get a hold of me... and I know I'm not getting out of it... that's it, man. I'm just gonna... Punch my own ticket."

"...Punch your own ticket?"

"Yeah, take myself out."

"Don't be dramatic. And don't let them get a hold of you."

"Okay."

Lee walked over to Clementine. "You interrogating this woman for us?"

"Yep," Clementine said.

"She set off any alarm bells?"

"Not yet."

"She's very thorough," Christa complimented.

"That's what I like to hear," Lee said.

"That's a pretty useful radio for her to be holding onto, no?" Christa asked.

"It's busted, but... it means something to her."

"Ah, I understand."

"Careful, she's a crack shot now," Lee joked.

"You got this girl shooting guns?" Christa asked.

"Look, I don't need a lecture."

"You weren't getting one. It's good. She should be able to take care of herself."

"Okay," Lee said. "So where are you from?"

"San Francisco."

"Jeez, a long way from home."

"I blame the one in there," Christa continued. She was referencing Omid. "He wanted the great American road trip."

Chuck struck a wrong chord with his guitar. He picked up the tune again and continued as if it didn't happen. "He got a little more than he bargained for, huh?" Lee joked.

"Who the hell is into Civil War history anyway? Other than old white guys." Lee grinned awkwardly as he raised his palm to the sky. "Wonderful." Despite her previous complaint, Christa smiled ruefully. "You two will be thick as thieves."

Lee wanted to talk to Omid about the history of America that got the two where they were in the first place. He was with Kenny in the front of the train.

"I don't know what that does yet," Kenny said to Omid regarding a lever. "Don't touch it." He reached for it anyway. "I said don't touch it, jackass. This whole thing's simple really."

"How could it not be?" Omid asked.

"Teaching him anything?" Lee asked.

"Trying to..." Kenny answered.

"Learning the ropes?" Lee asked Omid. "Can't be too hard, right?"

"There are a lot of levers I can't wait to use," he said.

"I said if something _were_ to happen to me," Kenny interrupted.

"Maybe we can drive in shifts?"

"Well see."

"So you like Civil War history, huh?" Lee asked.

"Fuck yeah," Omid answered. "What do you know about some Quantrill's Raid?" Omid sounded excited.

Lee wasn't quite sure why. Quantrill's Raid had been a brutal massacre of one-hundred-sixty-four untrained civilians in a small area of Kansas. Colonel Quantrill had led a guerrilla strike with three hundred armed Confederate soldiers. There had been no key Union targets in the city, nor were there any soldiers. According to historians, Quantrill's actions had been because of a desire for retribution of a Union attack two years before. "It happened a thousand miles that way." He held out his arm towards the direction of the setting sun.

"Well... yeah."

"And we're headed towards the site of Sherman's March to Sea."

"We're going to Savannah?"

"Yeah."

"Excellent," Omid said. "Don't tell Christa, though. That won't be as big a selling point to her."

"You got it. Talk to you later."

Lee left the engine cabin and descended the ladder. He walked on over to the underside of the bridge.

"Can I follow you over there?!" Clementine asked Lee from behind.

Lee turned to face her. Lee squinted at the sunlight in his face. "You don't like the new girl?"

"I do. But... it's like we're a team. Like you said."

Tyler stepped up beside her. "I'm coming with you."

Lee shook his head. "Stay with the group."

"Dad, I'm fine. I don't even need the painkillers."

Lee startled._ I didn't take the painkillers from Katjaa,_ he realized. The next scavenger who came along and looted her corpse wouldn't understand the value that Katjaa had had, and would only take the medicine.

"You're still limping," Lee argued.

Tyler straightened himself out. "I can help."

"Just stay here. You can help get the tanker down later."

Tyler grumbled in frustration, but went back over to the train anyway. Clementine looked after him. "Is Tyler okay?"

"I hope so, Clem." He raised his shoulder and gestured with his head for her to follow him. "C'mon, let's go." Lee the other survivors and raised his voice. "Clementine and I are checking out this train station, all right? Hustle over if you hear anything."

No response.

Lee led the way over to the station in quick time. As he reached the platform, Clementine ran ahead to scout. Lee knew he should have stopped her, but some instinct told him to let her discover something on her own.

_Somebody must've been pretty desperate. _Lee was looking at the roof of the station, where in white paint made dry with age, words were inscribed. The message read:

SURVIVORS INSIDE

Lee walked off the platform at the opposite side of where he had entered. He then looked at the sign in the window near where Clementine was standing. It read:

NO ENTRY: TRESSPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED

_And this is why I worked at the University of Georgia, _he mused. _So people who don't take my class can spell "trespassers" wrong_.

Clementine scurried away to the door. Lee followed her slowly, taking time to observe his surroundings and keep a lookout for walkers. He approached from behind as she tried to open the door. It was locked, and she gave up trying to unlock it with her fingernails as soon as he arrived.

"You should wait for me before trying to open doors," he gently warned the girl.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"Luckily it's locked," Lee said. "We'll get better at working together."

Lee looked through the door windows as best he could, but the wooden boards made seeing anything inside difficult. A small frame window above the door was not boarded up, but he couldn't get through it. _I can't see in there. "_The window's open up there."

"Maybe I could look in?" Clementine suggested.

"Why don't I put you up on my shoulders and you can peek into that window up there."

"Sounds good." Lee lifted her up and let her stand on top of his shoulders. She locked her knees around his head for balance and placed her hands on the window sill for reach. "Okay. I can see in, what do I do now?"

"What do you see?" Lee asked. If there was anything within her reached that she could use to open the door, e was going to need it. _Maybe I_ should _have brought Tyler with me._

"Lots of crates and stuff."

"Maybe we can find the key or figure out a way to knock this door down. Kenny'd probably have me pick the lock, which actually might work now that we have time."

Clementine reached in and he heard something click. "I think I opened it."

"For real?"

"I think so."

He set her down on the grass and placed his hand on the doorknob. The door was heavy, but he was still able to open it. "Well I'll be damned," Lee remarked.

"Let's go," Clementine said. "Be careful."

"I'm supposed to tell you that," Lee said with a smile. They both went in, and Lee let the door shut behind him. The lack of sunlight due to the boarded up windows made everything dark.

"Maybe I could hold the door open?" she asked.

"I don't like that," Lee answered. "I'll prop it open with something."

Lee used the spanner to hold it open, placing it on the ground in front of the door. Now there was more light for him to work by.

"That's exactly what we need," Lee said, looking at a blowtorch. It was behind a wall a bars.

"Over there?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah," he said. "We need to get in there and get that blowtorch."

He glanced at the gate. _Locked up tight._ Above the security gate, there was a tiny gap that he could reach but not fit through.

"We're lucky I'm so little," Clementine said.

"Yeah, we are. You okay going over the top of this fence?"

"Yeah, definitely."

Lee boosted her onto his shoulders and stood in front of the gate. Once she was over the top, she landed on her feet and looked at what Lee wanted. "Go on and grab the keys, Clem." She didn't move. "Go on, scoot."

She shied back, holding her fists in front of her mouth. Suddenly, Lee noticed she was scared of something. "Behind you!"

Lee wheeled around and came face to face with a bald walker with ashy skin. It lunged for him, holding out its arms. "Shit!" he exclaimed as he extracted his gun from his waistband and took aim. He was about to pull the trigger, yet something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye: a second walker with gray hair and gray skin. That walker crashed into him, forcing him to throw his arm under its chin in defense. He held it back, but it's hand hit his, and he dropped the gun.

He grabbed the gray one's collar and pushed it aside. He circled the other walker, edging closer to the door. Lee glanced back at the spanner he had left to hold the door open. He needed that weapon. He kept his eyes on both walkers as he walked backwards. Lee punched the bald walker twice in the head to slow it down, as it was marginally ahead of the other walker, but he guessed the punch did more damage to him than it did the walker.

He reached the door and grabbed the spanner. With the light dimming as the door swung shut, he swung at the bald walker across its face. It spun around from the impact, and Lee took the opportunity to swing downwards from the top of its head and crush the skull.

The door shut, and Lee was left in almost complete darkness. He could see the other walker very well, but he felt it soon enough. It fell upon Lee, and he used his hands to keep it back. He pushed forward with all of his strength, and it toppled backwards. He slammed the spanner down into its face one time, ending its struggles.

He bent forward, panting. He stood up as soon as he was able to and- with his eyes adjusting to the darkness- saw Clementine holding out his pistol, shakily aiming at the dead walker he had killed first. He pocketed the spanner and held up his hands. "It's okay...it's okay... everything's fine," Lee soothed. She lowered her gun dejectedly and let her shoulders sag. She had failed to shoot the walker. Lee guessed she was too afraid that she'd hit him.

Lee heard some snarls on his left, and faced that way and saw white eyes behind a shadow. Another zombie stepped out from the darkness from Clementine's side of the gate. "KEYS! NOW!" Lee ordered. She ran to the wall and snatched the keys and gave it to him. In a few lucky seconds, Lee had opened the gate, taken the gun from her, and shot the walker in the head. It fell to the floor without any other protests. Lee rubbed his forehead. "God...damn..." He put the gun back in his waistband.

"That didn't go so good," Clementine said, stating the obvious.

Lee placed a hand on her back, partly to steady her, partly to steady himself. "No, it did not go so good," Lee repeated. "But we're okay. Everything's okay."

"What's going on?" Christa's voice sounded from outside the open door. "I thought I heard a gunshot."

_Well, I did say hustle over_. Lee was glad that she was taking her responsibilities seriously. "We're fine," Lee answered. Christa went inside and registered the three rotting corpses. "We found some walkers."

The door swung closed behind her, plunging them into near darkness. "You and an eight year old versus three of them, huh?"

Lee took his hand off of the girl. Clementine glanced up at Lee, and he looked down at her before returning his attention to Christa. He narrowed his eyes, ready for her to get angry. "We handled it," Lee said.

"Yeah, it looks like. What if you hadn't? I'm going to go make sure the noise didn't cause us any problems."

"That's a good idea," Clementine commented.

Before she left, she said, "I hope you know what you're doing with her."

"Me too," Lee answered.

"For her sake." She walked out the door. It swung shut again.

Lee grabbed the blowtorch, hefting it with both hands. "Let's go outside now," Clementine said.

"What did we learn?" Lee asked.

"I'm not ready for a gun." She looked down.

"We learned not to be afraid," Lee corrected. "They shoulda got us, but we got them."

"Yeah, you're right." She turned her head up and smiled.

"Fear is the thing that will kill us, you understand?"

Clementine nodded. Both of them having learned from the experience, They walked outside, Clementine holding the door while Lee lugged around the blowtorch. Walking back to the train, Clementine stopped at one point past the station platform. "They're pretty," she said.

"What is?" Lee asked. He looked at the area in front of her. The grass was littered with sunflowers. "You like sunflowers, Clementine?"

"Yeah," she giggled.

"Go ahead, sweet pea. You can take one."

She bent forward and plucked a yellow-petaled flower out of the soil. She gingerly placed it into her pocket.

They continued back towards the train. Omid stepped out of the front of the cabin when the two arrived. "I found a blowtorch in the station. Should make quick work of the coupling up there."

"Excellent," Omid said. "I'll come up there with you to have a look." Omid went up the ladder.

Lee took a good look at the hanging tanker, fully appreciating the spectrum of their situation. _More big shit to move. _Lee rapped his knuckles against it thrice._ This would create a hell of a fireball if we tried to blast through._

Lee went over to Clementine and Christa. "We're trying to get used to being on our own. Clementine and I."

"So you take her into a dark, boarded up building to build character?" Christa joked.

"Not exactly," Lee replied.

"I think it's a good idea- figurin' stuff out for yourself- for what it's worth," Christa commented. "But be smart about it, though, you know? Teach her to scan the area for things. You two should never be looking in the same spot- that's a waste. Stay the hell out of places like that building over there, especially if you don't have more than one way to get out. And be more afraid of groups of living men than dead folk."

"That, we know," Lee said.

"Omid and I are still alive because we're two and not six or eight or ten. I don't believe in strength in numbers and you shouldn't either."

"Uhh," Lee said, "I'm gonna go help Omid." Lee left the girls and climbed the ladder to the top of the bridge.

"Fire that thing up," Omid said excitedly. Lee set down the blowtorch next to the edge of the ladder.

Lee went to turn on the hose, but the gas wouldn't come out of the nozzle. "Shit."

"What's up?"

"The hose has a leak in it," Lee said.

"Turn it off, dude! I don't want my eyebrows burned off!"

Lee turned the control nozzle to the right, sealing off the flow of gas. "Better plug that leak with something." Near them was another truck belonging to Federal Rescue Service. Lee opened to back of the truck. All that was in there were stop signs, cones, and police tape. Lee took the tape to seal the leak. "That's about the only useful thing in there." Using the caution line yellow tape, Lee wrapped up the hole in the hose. The hose was secure and could now be used.

Lee finally got it to spark and put it against the gas truck's metal. "That is crazy," Omid said, "look at it go."

"Just about got it," Lee said with his eyes closed. The sparks were jumping around everywhere. The truck began to move toward the edge of the bridge and was about to knock Lee over when Omid pulled him out of the way. "Whoa, thanks!"

"No sweat, man."

"This thing's hanging by a thread. The smallest cut and it'll go." Lee picked up the hose again. He looked at the hitch. "It's too far off the edge." He held out the hose to Omid. "Here. The weak portion of the coupling is out of my reach."

"You think it'll be within mine?" Omid asked.

"No, but I'm gonna dangle you over that ledge."

"The hell you are!"

"Dad," Tyler spoke up, "dangle me."

"Yeah," Omid agreed. "Dangle Tyler."

"Tyler only has one good arm to use," Lee argued. "He can't-"

"Fine, fine," Omid relented. He took the hose in one hand and gave Lee his other. Lee guided him over to the ledge and held him out over the side. "God, you're a real son of a bitch, aren't you?"

"Shut up and start cutting."

Lee heard a distant, far off collection of shouts. At first, he thought that the plane might have been back above their heads, but this sounded too loud for that. _I never told anyone about the plane,_ Lee thought. This new sound was like an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, bearing a burden of blood.

"Guys?!" Ben screamed. "Something's coming!"

If Ben had seen something coming, and if there were that many shouts, it could only mean one thing: walkers.

"WHAT THE WHAT?" Omid said in confusion.

"There must be thousands..." Lee said.

"WE GOTTA GO!" Ben screamed. He raced to the engine car door.

"Fuck," Lee said. "Omid! CUT! CUT!"

"I AM!" Omid yelled. "IT'S GOING! PULL ME UP!"

"KENNY, GO!" Lee screamed. Chuck, Christa and Clementine were boarding. Carley and Kenny were already inside. "Dammit! The ladder's smashed to hell!" Lee said to Omid. Lee stared at the blowtorch and the pool of liquid gas coming out of the tank. "Hope to God this works." He then kicked the blowtorch into the pooling liquid at the base of the ladder.

"Holy crap!" Omid said. The pool of gasoline lit on fire.

"We gotta jump!" Lee said. Lee ran to the opposite side of the bridge.

"WHAT?! No way!" Omid yelled back. Both of them stepped over the railing and prepared to drop tithe train.

"Jump!" Lee ordered.

"No!"

"Jump, DAMMIT!" he repeated.

"Still no!" Omid adamantly responded.

"Fine! You stay here and we'll go with your lady!"

"The hell you will!" Omid jumped, leaving behind a smiling Lee.

Omid impacted the boxcar roof, crying out in pain as he fell off the side and tumbled to the ground. Christa leapt off of the train car and ran over to him. Lee jumped off the bridge himself, grunting in shock against the metal of the boxcar but managing to maintain his balance. He crept over to the part above the boxcar door and swung himself inside. Omid and Christa appeared outside the boxcar door in that order, both of them running and Omid limping on his favored leg.

"No! Her! NOT ME! CHRISTA NO! FUCK!" Christa lagged behind the view out of the boxcar. Omid turned to Lee. "You piece of shit! She's a woman! Don't you know-"

Christa then reappeared into view, now at a full sprint. Christa lunged on to the boxcar with Lee and Omid. "It's okay, honey. I'm okay."

_Tyler_. Lee abruptly bolted to his feet and over to the back door of the boxcar, the one hidden by Chuck's supplies. He opened it and looked back at the top of the bridge. He caught a glimpse of Tyler throwing something back at the walkers before edging back from the edge. Lee nearly jumped off the train himself before Tyler came back into view. With a running head-start, Tyler placed one foot on the rail and jumped off the bridge.

At that moment, Lee understood why Tyler hadn't jumped before. He understood what Tyler had thrown. The grenade.

The tanker exploded, sending shockwaves through the air. The bridge itself collapsed as everyone in the boxcar groaned from the blast. Thanks to the appropriately timed explosion, Tyler was propelled farther than he alone could have achieved, extending his arc all the way to the back of the boxcar. Lee outstretched his arms to catch Tyler, but Tyler caught himself on the ladder next to the boxcar door, carefully swinging himself into Lee in the same motion. Lee grabbed Tyler and fell backwards intentionally, bringing them both back inside of the boxcar. After that, Tyler raced back to the door to watch as Lee sat up to do the same.

A second, larger explosion occurred, likely due to the oil flame setting out the other. This one sent pieces of both walker and bridge alike flying. Thankfully, neither reached the train, but some large chunks of the bridge impacted the train tracks behind them, shaking everyone up. Some of the trees in the surrounding forest were set ablaze as well, though these fires wouldn't be strong enough to kill the trees or start a forest fire. Most pieces of the bridge had dropped down to block the walkers' path.

Laughing, Tyler swung his back into the side of the boxcar. He slid into a seated position, still laughing. Lee joined in the laughter as well, unable to contain himself.

"That... was a LOT... of them," Omid commented once the laughter had subsided.

Clementine joined them, entering through the railway boxcar door. "Are you hurt...?"

"No, we're okay," Lee answered.

"Speak for yourself," Omid said, "my leg is fucked."

"We're fine, Clementine," Christa said. "We're fine."

* * *

><p>Lee awoke in the very same chair the dead engineer had been sitting in before yesterday. He glanced at the readings on the dashboard. None of it really made any sense to him, but it made him feel more comfortable to know that he had been the one to turn it on. He doubted anybody else could have done it, save Tyler.<p>

He glanced over at Clementine, who sat in the other chair. Rather, she lounged in the chair; elbow over one armrest, head held by that hand while she slept, her feet pulled in close on top of the plush seat. Her other arm was curled into her Brooklyn hoodie pocket, barely big enough to house her forearm inside. Clementine's weight sunk into the soft, padded chair she rested in. Lee didn't understand why the engineers needed plush seats for trains, yet his students got wooden desks for learning.

Lee stood up- slowly, so as not to wake Clementine- and crossed the room over to her. Her backpack was propped against the edge of the chair, unzipped. A colored paper stuck out of the end of it. Curious, Lee pulled out the paper- crouching down to reach it. It was a drawing of Kenny, Katjaa and Duck, standing against a picturesque field, a bright blue sky at their backs, a lush green grassland at their feet.

They were all holding hands.

Kenny walked into the cabin, shutting the door behind him carefully. Lee put the drawing back in her bag.

"Next stop, the Atlantic," Kenny said.

"We have to find a boat," Lee said, standing up. "We just have to."

"We will," Kenny said.

"It's gotten too bad, you know? You, me, nobody can take all this."

"But we have," Kenny replied sadly.

"What we're supposed to do isn't clear anymore. I'd give anything to go back to fighting over the motel."

Kenny let out a long sigh. "Me, too."

"I'll leave you to your own thoughts," Lee said. He glanced over at Clementine. Their brief conversation hadn't stirred her from sleep, thankfully. "She's out cold like I never seen."

Some static and small crash noises reverberated in small, rhythmic sequences from somewhere below Lee. He looked down and found the culprit: Clementine's backpack had the walkie-talkie to its left. "Hell...o...oo...there?..."

"What the...?" Lee said. Lee picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Can't wait for you to get to Savannah, Clementine," an urban voiced male aired from the radio. "I've got your parents right here and you be sure to find me whether Lee wants you to or not. Now, what I need-"

"Holy shit..." Lee said.

"I though that fucking thing was broken..." Kenny said.

"So did I."

"Well, it sounds like somebody knows where we're headed."

"Who the fuck..."

"I don't know. But I doubt we're going to be happy when we find out."

Lee looked back at the still sleeping Clementine. Not wanting to give away that he knew of the man on the other side of the signal just yet, Lee clipped the walkie-talkie to his waistband without pressing the talk button.


End file.
